For the want of a child
by ferae naturae
Summary: (slash, multiple pairings, *mostly* f/f) For the want of a child the woman was lost... and all for the want of a child
1. End 1

END 1

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Something tells me a story like this should start at the beginning. But that's boring, let's start at the end.

It all ended with a phone call

Sandra sat down on the bed, phone in hand, blood draining from her face as she used one hand to pull her long blond hair back out of her eyes, an almost automatic gesture to give her some reassurance, some reality in this situation.

"What?" She asked, not wanting to believe.

"She died yesterday in her sleep. It was peaceful, she just didn't wake up. She was ill, Sand. We knew this was coming." She pictured her cousin - in heart and home if not in blood, he and his sister had been Uncle and Aunt to her children since the very start - in his city-house home so far away, his light brown hair tousled and all over the place, as it always had been and always would be, his soft brown eyes filled with the sadness that she could hear in his voice.

"OK, I'll be right down, the first flight I can get. I'll have to bring the kids, Kelly's there already isn't she, and I don't trust Liz on her own here with David."

"We have plenty of room here, Sand, you can stay with us."

"Thanks Ade." She whispered, feeling a lump rising in her throat.

"My Dad's coming down too, he's going to help us sort out the funeral and things."

"Is he OK making the journey on his own?"

"Tammy was at his house, she's coming down with him. She'll take care of him. After this I think I'll offer him a place here. They were the same age, you know, Sand."

"Yeah. I know." A young face appeared in the doorway and Sandra beckoned her youngest, David into the room, pulling him into a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow Ade, be safe." David watched her put down the phone and smile at him bravely.

"Are we going to see Uncle Adrian?" He asked brightly, seeing the tears in his mother's eyes and searching for a reason she might be sad. She sighed, pulling him close and squeezing him, breathing in the soft scent of his white-blond locks.

"Yes." She sighed softly. "Your Gramma has gone to live with God, David, just like your dad did." She explained.

"Oh." He thought about this for a moment. Though the answer may have washed with the child when he was only five and his father had died, he was ten now, and a little more world-wise. "That's very sad." He finished. "But she was ill, she'll be better now." He offered.

"Yes." She scrubbed at a stray tear. "Yes that's true." She smiled through the haze of falling tears.

"Shall I get Liz so we can have a hug?" He asked, scrabbling for a way to try and make this better.

"No, just sit here with me for a moment. She'll come when she's ready." True enough, the teen appeared in the doorway moments later, tears already glistening in her sky-blue eyes. She didn't say a word, moving to embrace her mother and brother as they sat there on the bed. They sat for a time until the young boy started to shift in the stillness.

"Come on, David, let's start to get packed." Liz said, standing to push her younger brother out of the room, stopping in the doorway and turning back to her mother. "Think happy thoughts. It's Gramma's motto, remember?" Sandra offered her daughter a smile.

"Thanks, I'll be out soon to sort out dinner."

"No problem, it's under control. I'll stick something in now and it'll be done by the time I've packed." The older woman sighed.

"You're a gem, you know that." She sighed.

"I'm a teenager, you know I can't accept compliments." They laughed together for a minute. "You going to eat something?"

"I don't think I could."

"OK, well, I'll see you later then. Come down if you need anything."

"I'll wait here for the fire alarms." The teen stuck her tongue out jokingly and left her mother to rest, dreading the thought of the days to come.

Liz looked up from the TV as her mother stepped into the room, coffee in hand. The sixteen-year old rubbed at her eyes for a minute, struggling to hide the tears that had fallen as she had sat thinking.

"I would have got you that." She said, pointing to the drink.

"I needed to get up. I was getting maudlin." Her mother replied.

"Do you think anyone would mind if I ask Sarah to come with us? For moral support."

"No, I was going to ask you if you wanted to ask her before I ordered the tickets. I think Gramma would have found it very appropriate. If you feel conscious you can always say she's a friend."

"No, I'm through with that. I want to be able to hold her hand and kiss her if I feel like it. What do you mean, appropriate?"

"Oh, nothing." She sat silent for a moment. "I was thinking how great it was that Gramma had a chance to spend time with her first great granddaughter before she went."

"First? That implies you're waiting for more Mum." She laughed softly.

"Oh, I think David will make a great father one day. And maybe Kelly and Daniel will decide that Shazné needs a brother or sister. And maybe you'll decide that you want to find a way"

"Is Kelly still staying with Uncle Ade while Daniel is away?"

"Yes, she'll be there when we get down there. She'll probably be the one to pick us up from the airport."

"Good, I'll get to spend more time with my niece."

"You like that don't you. That you're an Aunty."

"Yes. It makes me feel older."

"Well, being a Grandma makes me feel old too, and I don't need to feel any older. Phone Sarah before it gets too late and let's see how many tickets we need."


	2. Middle 1

MIDDLE 1

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Hmm maybe a story isn't so easy to understand without the middle

Shalimar was stood on the boundary to the huge expanse of building, neither inside or outside of Sanctuary, leant against the doorframe. Her eyes were closed, but Emma knew that it didn't mean she didn't know she was there.

"You shouldn't be up." Emma told her, speaking quietly so as not to break the peace that surrounded Shalimar, wrapping her arms around her torso to embrace her, resting her chin on her shoulder.

"I needed the air." She replied, her voice dry and hoarse, tears having left their mark.

"Shalimar, come inside, please. You need to rest."

"I should have known this would happen. Adam why do I never listen to him? I should have" Her breath caught and her knees buckled, leaving Emma to guide them both to the floor. She leant back against Emma, knees pulled up under her chin.

"Breathe, Shalimar come on." She warned as she realised that Shalimar was still struggling over her breath. She finally took in one gasped breath, and then another, and her breathing settled as the pain passed.

"I'm sorry." She cried, tears falling freely once again. "I'm so sorry."

"Hush, none of this is your fault. None of it." She rocked her gently as her sobs receded. As her breathing quieted Emma lifted her comm. link to her mouth. "The sedative's taken effect, she's asleep. Let's get her back before she wakes up." Adam's noise of consent was followed by approaching footsteps as Brennan appeared at the other end of the hall. He lifted her still form gently from the psionic's lap and carried her back to the medilab in silence to where Adam waited.

Not wanting to follow just yet, Emma stood quiet in the doorway, unconsciously mimicking Shalimar's stance as she thought of the events of the last few months. When Shalimar had first suggested the idea of them having a child Emma had been very much against it. They were too busy, Mutant X was too important, they didn't have the right lifestyle to take care of a child. But that night as she had slept she had dreamed of a life so very different to their own and of a blue eyed, blond haired child so full of contagious laughter that the sun seemed brighter and the world seemed more alive.

They had started planning the next day. It had seemed somehow sensible at the time not to tell the others until something came of it, and then it became not telling them until Shalimar started showing the tell-tale signs of the life that the IVF treatment had planted inside of her. Shalimar had decided from the start that she would be the one to carry the child and wouldn't be convinced otherwise. Something in Emma wondered quietly, beyond the buzz of pain of her own loss, why Shalimar had been so insistent is she knew, if Adam had warned her it was a possibility, that she was at risk of a miscarriage.

"I'm sorry." Adam said from behind her as she stood in the doorway to the lab, just watching her. She turned to face him.

"How is she?"

"She's sleeping. She should be down for a while longer. You could get some rest" She shook her head and turned away again.

"No, I want to be here when she wakes up." Adam took a seat on the small stool that he had brought in, watching Shalimar as if he might find the key to something larger in her face.

"I tried to warn her." He spoke at last. "I should have said more. I should"

"PLEASE DON'T!" Emma cried, realising her volume only after her outburst and stepping back, swaying slightly. "Please don't, I don't think I can stand any more 'should have's' tonight." They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the sounds of Jesse and Brennan moving about Sanctuary reaching them through the open doors. "Is it ferals in general or is it just her?" She asked softly.

"It's ferals. It's unlikely we will ever see a second generation feral population. They're always either infertile or unable to carry a child to term. The genetics just aren't right. You can cross a horse with a donkey, but the mule is always infertile." Emma didn't know what to do with that comparison.

"You didn't cross a horse with a donkey Adam." She spat. "You crossed a human with something far more dangerous." She stormed out of the room, wishing she didn't have to and mentally apologising to Shalimar for leaving her alone. She needed room, she needed space. She hadn't realised quite what this potential child had meant to her. Shalimar had been projecting sadness and anguish all day and it was wearing her down. The constant emotions. She stepped out of the door and sat down on soft grass, laying back and giving in to her mental tiredness.

She felt grief - her own grief - at the loss of this, 'their' child. Though she had no genetic claim on the baby, it would have been undoubtedly theirs. She was filled with pity for Shalimar, she was so desperate for her own child and yet she could never truly get there. A little relief perhaps, that Shalimar was OK and the she had a little more time before she became a mother - or was that father? She shook the confusing thought off.

"I'm sorry Emma." She had known that he had been standing there, but his voice still made her jump. "I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry. I'm just annoyed that she would put herself at risk like that again, despite what she knew. And I'm angry that she didn't trust me enough to take my advice or at least come to me to talk about it."

"Again?"

"Yes this is her third miscarriage didn't you know?"


	3. Beginning 1

BEGINNING 1

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Oh, I give up. This is the beginning. The very Beginning.

"Mr. Kane?" The dark haired man sitting in the waiting room looked up, startled.

"Yes? That's me." He stood and started walking towards the door.

"Congratulations, sir. It's a boy." The joy that filled his face shone from him like the sun.

"Can I see him?"

"Yes, come on through." His wife looked up at him as he walked in, her face tired, but filled with the same light that filled his.

"Isn't it wonderful." She asked, showing him a bundle of blankets in her arms. "Daddy, meet Adam. Adam, meet"

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OK, so that's too far back. A little adjustment and yes, there you go

Adam sighed as he swirled his drink in his cup and took as sip - choking a little as the heavily spiked punch hit the back of his throat. As dorm. parties went, this was one of the worst ones yet. The music was terrible, the air was filled with smoke of questionable origins, he had a pounding headache and an exam tomorrow morning. He just couldn't get up the energy to leave, least of all to sit and read another revision sheet on the kind of genetics he had learned when he was twelve. He had come to this, one of the more renowned universities, expecting to be challenged and had been sorely disappointed. But he was only in his first year, maybe this was just going to be a catch-up year, to get everyone up to the same level.

He caught the eye of his friend - the one who he had supposedly been escorting to and from this so-called party - and indicated that he was leaving. She smiled and dragged herself away from the young lady she had been glued to all evening, pulling her along behind. Walking through the crowd and being forced to dodge the other people, her limp seemed even more pronounced than usual. But then the woman she was with had dragged her onto the dance floor and she had always refused to dance on the grounds that it hurt too much so maybe that was the reason.

When they were close enough to be heard by each other he called out.

"I'm going, OK?"

"Yeah. Amy's going to walk me back to the dorms. I'll see you tomorrow in the lecture OK?" Adam smiled, he thought that might be the case, the way the two had spent the night together after such a short introduction. It seemed so stupid to have to walk Rachel everywhere, but she had already been attacked once this semester - apparently easier game than most for the stoned morons that ruled the campus after dark and insisted on creating anarchy. Amy seemed nice though, maybe Rachel had finally found someone. The thought was vaguely scary. They had been good friends since the very start of the term, he hated to think that he might loose her friendship to a long term relationship. He shook of the thought and commanded himself to pay attention to where he was going. He would get lost or mugged if he wasn't careful. If Rachel had found herself a partner he would be nothing but happy for her, he decided. Hearing a rustle in the bushes beside him he increased his pace as he hurried back to the dorms. Some protection he would have been, he laughed at himself. He was going to have to get some self-defence lessons, maybe that would make this tiring course a little more interesting.


	4. End 2

END 2

AN: It should be warned that I don't intend to give away any answers until much later. The idea is that as we near the end all of the chapters should start to come together and you should start to see how the things in the 'end' link up with the 'middle' and 'beginning'. The identities that you don't know yet should stay quiet until the very end, but by then they should be pretty obvious anyway.

Disclaimer (coz I forgot it earlier): I don't own the recognisable characters or situations, they belong to Tribune Entertainment and the rest, but I do own the storyline and writing, as well as Rachel, Amy, Emily (you don't know her yet), Sandra, Adrian, Tammy, Kelly, Daniel, Shazné, Liz, Sarah and David. (don't think I've missed anyone :s) I'm not making any money out of this writing, I do it just for fun.

David placed an overstuffed duffel bag beside the door, on top of his sister's neatly packed one and his mother's over-packed two. Holding on tightly to a small bag of hand-luggage he headed into the kitchen for breakfast.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang and Liz leapt down the stairs, throwing the door open and standing for a minute, soaking up the picture that was her girlfriend. Her long black hair had been pulled back into a tidy plait and she wore jeans and a t-shirt. A suitcase in one hand and a laptop bag in the other she struggled to keep hold of the dress bag that Liz knew contained the black outfit that she would wear for the funeral.

"Do I get invited in, or are you just going to stand there and stare?" She asked wryly.

"I'm sorry." She exclaimed, stepping aside so that Sarah could get past and drop her bags beside the pile that was already forming in the hall. Hands free, Sarah pulled Liz into a hug.

"How are you doing?"

"Better now that you're here." She whispered, feeling tears welling again. Sarah cuffed her gently on the shoulder.

"You soppy fool." They laughed together softly. Sarah released Liz as Sandra walked down the stairs. "I'm very sorry about your mother." She offered. Sandra smiled softly.

"I'm glad you were able to come, Sarah. I'm going to need someone sane to talk to on this trip." Sandra had been very much against their relationship the first time Liz had brought Sarah home - two years older then her young daughter, silver adorned ears, eyebrows, nose, dark coloured clothes and makeup and heavy boots. But after one warning to stay away from her daughter Sarah had reappeared, all adornment removed and clothing suitably adjusted, and told Sandra exactly why she wanted to date Liz. They had been best of friends ever since.

"It wasn't as if my parents would miss me." Sarah joked. "I swear one day they're going to turn around and say 'daughter, what daughter?'."

"I'm afraid this isn't going to be the most interesting way to get away from them." Sarah smiled sympathetically.

"Not at all, I have to maximise my time with Liz before I go off to Uni. It's going to be odd being so far away."

"You're only an hour away." Liz assured. "Soon as I can drive you won't be able to keep me away."

"You're going to have to survive an hour's flight and a few weeks with our family first." Sandra joked and Liz was reassured to see a small spark of humour in her mother's eyes. It was a shadow of what normally dwelled there, but it was a start. She was right. If they could survive this, recovery could begin as they wished her grandmother a fond farewell and started back on their own journeys.


	5. Middle 2

MIDDLE 2

"Why didn't you tell me?" Finding it almost impossible to keep Shalimar in a bed anywhere, Adam had released her, making her promise not to take off her comm. ring and to come back if she needed more pain meds. Emma had found her curled up on a sofa in the living room of Sanctuary and took a seat beside her, watching her face as she uncurled so that she could look at Emma without getting a crick in her neck.

"Tell you what?" She retorted angrily "That I'm so sick in the head I keep trying for a child even when I know I can't have one? Or is it the numbers you wanted? Did you want to know that this was the fifth attempt?" Emma went to retort and paused, struck by what she had said.

"Adam said three." She half-whispered.

"Yeah, well Adam hasn't known me my whole life has he. I'm surprised he saw the two while I was here."

"He didn't at the time, he realised later."

"More like Jesse told him." They sat in silence together for a moment, Emma's hand trailing through Shalimar's hair.

"You were only fifteen when Adam met you Shalimar."

"Yeah, Emma. I know that." Emma wanted to say more. She wanted to say so much more, but she wasn't sure how without breaking down in tears in the sorrow of what she had just discovered. "I just wish he'd stop fussing."

"He's only worried about you Shalimar. I'm worried about you too."

"I don't think he gets it, you know. I think he thinks I'm either stupid and don't understand what he's saying or I'm so full of feral hormones I can't help myself. Well I suppose that doesn't explain this one." Emma winced.

"The others were"

"Yes, the others were natural pregnancies, Emma." She had no reply to that. She wasn't even sure she wanted to reply to that. The way Shalimar had always talked about male partners, she made it sound it like she wouldn't touch a man sexually if he were the last thing on the Earth. Maybe she had been mistaken. Maybe what Shalimar had been hiding from her had been bigger than all of this. "Don't think that." She looked up to find Shalimar had moved and was closer to her, big brown eyes staring straight into hers.

"I'm the psionic on this team."

"It's plastered all over your face, Emma. Please don't think that. I love you more than anything, I do. I have never lied to you except by omission and for that I'm truly sorry. But you have to believe me when I say I love you and I always will. What I've done before now it disgusted me, but I needed it. I needed a child. It's something that's wrong with me, and it makes me do terrible things. For a while I thought I'd gotten over it, I hadn't thought about it for so long I guess I was wrong."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare apologise for something I've done wrong. That's the last thing I want." Emma pulled Shalimar into a hug.

"Oh, Shalimar. How do we sort out this mess?" She smiled wryly.

"I guess we put it behind us and take it as a learning experience." She sighed, laughing softly. "And what have we learned today children?"

"To keep tighter hold of our lovers at night, else they try and sneak away to sate an urge"

"Hey." She swiped at the red-head. "I would never do that to you. I would never do that."

"I know." She kissed her softly. "I know."

Adam shuffled through the draw of folders hoping to find something he could do to. Getting his hand trapped in the slider he swore and tried to remember why he hadn't put these things on the computer along with the rest of the data. 'Oh yes' he said to himself 'because they'll be so much safer here if the system gets hacked' he chuckled to himself. This was a draw full of the things he didn't want any one else to see. The cases that were a little more delicate than any of the others. Just in case anyone wanted to take down Mutant X, they would not find the original case information for the four members on the genomex database because it was all right here in paper form. There were a few other folders as well, but most of those, he had forgotten why he had put them in here anyway. He paused as he saw a file wedged underneath the others. It must have been caught when another had been put in and trapped, unnoticed since. He pulled it out carefully, looking at the names on the spine. Rachel Waiter and Amy Spence. He took a deep breath and sat down, the file still in his hands. Was it fate that he should find this folder - hidden for so long - today of all days? He flipped to the first page where a picture of them stared out at him. It was an old photo from their collage days, folded and crumpled in the corners. They sat side by side on a park bench, hands clasped between them, heads close. Completely wrapped up in each other the look of consternation that seemed always to grace Rachel's face had faded into satisfied calm and Amy's wry smile had been replaced by a soft look of satisfaction. Both were much too far-gone to notice Adam with a camera on his person. He remembered their surprise as the camera had clicked and they had looked up at him, startled out of their joint reverie. They had always seemed perfect for each other, Rachel's calm logic counteracting Amy's hyperactivity and Amy's sense of humour making Rachel's life that little bit more interesting. Amy constantly physical and Rachel sitting out almost all physical activities on account of her leg. He had treasured the friendship that he had retained with them throughout and past their respective degrees but he would never forget the day when they came to him with a proposition.


	6. Beginning 2

BEGINNING 2

Adam flopped into a chair, exhausted after the baffling day he'd had. He had been working at Genomex for six years, having been picked up by them as soon as he had finished his degree and started his PhD, and the pace they were working him at was wearing him down. For the first few years he'd been travelling around the country, talking to prospective parents and patients and revelling in the freedom and resources that he was being offered by Genomex. After he had offered some advice on the case of a young boy who's genetic code had curiously mutated after treatment, he had been brought right into the thick of the action in the company and risen fast through the ranks, his natural skill out weighing his relative lack of experience. He had just been treating that same boy again when some man - it seemed, though he had little grasp of exactly what had been going on in the baffling chain of events - had tried to kill him and he had been rescued by a group of individuals who had seemed to jump out of nowhere and disappear back into nowhere. A knock on the door disturbed his reverie and he contemplated not answering it, pretending he wasn't in. The knocking intensified and he stood up, sighing. He caught his breath as he answered the door and saw who was standing there.

"Rachel, Amy!" He exclaimed. "How are you?"

"Hey Adam." They hadn't changed at all in the three years it had been since he had seen them last, on Rachel's twenty-fifth. He'd seemed a little out of place at that party, the youngest there at only twenty-two having done his degree earlier than most. Looking between them he regretted not keeping better touch. They shared a glance and he wondered why they had come here today, they obviously had something on their minds.

"So, Adam!" Amy began with her usual enthusiasm. "How ya been? Up to anything interesting recently?" Adam laughed.

"Well, I'm still working where I was last time I saw you, but I'm getting into some of the more exciting things."

"Details?" She bounced. Rachel put one hand on her shoulder and she stilled.

"Adam. We came to see you because Amy and I want to have a baby." Rachel explained awkwardly in her quiet way. A hundred thoughts filled Adam's mind. Why would they come to him? What could he do to help them have a child unless he paled but they wouldn't ask him to do that, would they? They couldn't ask him to

"It's not what you're thinking." Amy interrupted. "We need your brains, not your brawn?" She lifted an eyebrow and cracked up. Adam didn't know whether to be relieved or insulted.

"We want to try and create a child from both of our genes, so that it's part of both of us." Rachel explained as Amy struggled to catch her breath again. "We thought you'd be the best person to come to."

"It's not as simple as it sounds." Adam frowned, already listing the problems in his mind. "It would take a lot of work" He was lost for a moment in the trail of thought. "And it would be risky. Whichever one of you chose to go through with it, you'd be a test subject, anything could happen."

"How long would it take you?"


	7. End 3

End 3

The flight was long and uneventful. The view, though they knew it would be breathtaking, was mostly hidden by the clouds that hung just below the level of the plane. Sandra buried herself in a book, David in his gameboy and Sarah showed Liz a new photo editing package she had bought for her computer.

"So you see if I have two photos - like these two of you and me that I scanned - and I highlight all the major points on our faces, I can make a completely different person." Sarah looked up from the screen of the laptop where she was conducting her demonstration, meeting Liz's eyes. "You're not listening to a word of this, are you?" She asked laughingly.

"No, but I enjoyed hearing it." Sarah laughed outright at this, turning the screen so that it faced Liz.

"This is what our seventeen-year-old daughter would look like." She teased. Liz spent a minute taking in the dark brown hair, straggly where the two hair-styles met; soft hazel eyes; cheerful grin and structured cheekbones. A perfect midpoint between her face and Sarah's. She laughed after a moment.

"Good god, don't say things like that. Mum's already pining after another grandchild."

They stepped off the plane and were herded into a crowded terminal, P.A.s announcing every few seconds which flights were delayed and cancelled. They grabbed their bags as they appeared, weaving their way to them on slow conveyor belts and headed for the lounge where Kelly would be waiting for them. Sandra spotted her 26 year old daughter as soon as she stepped into the huge space. She was tall, like her father, and her strawberry blond hair - again, just like her father's - was very visible over the crowds. As she came into view Sandra thought, not for the first time, how very much like her father she looked. She might have questioned her own motherhood of the girl - woman, she reminded herself - if she hadn't carried her. Kelly's young daughter on the other hand, Shazné, looked very much like her grandmother had at that age, having only just turned three. Her white blond hair, which would darken as she got older as Liz's had and David's would, her pixi-blue eyes - the only feature that Kelly and her mother shared - and her hyperactivity which Sandra could remember used to be frowned upon in herself (and as a result intended to pander to at every possible opportunity).

She pulled her daughter and granddaughter into her arms.

"Hey." Kelly greeted when she was finally released.

"Nanna!" Shazné giggled, reaching out to Sandra, risking tipping herself out of her mother's arms.

"Nanna will carry you later Shaz." Her mother consoled, shifting her into a safer position and doling out hugs to the others. "Right now we have to get back to the hotel."

"Daniel's coming home." Kelly told Sandra gleefully as they drove the short distance to the hotel that Adrian owned and ran. "He was saving up some leave from before we were married for a holiday or something. It was going to be a surprise but he said this was more important. He'll fly in tomorrow morning and we'll have at least two weeks together."

"Is he OK to do that? I thought it was getting a bit tense out there." Sandra asked.

"It was all a big mistake. They thought they had found a huge group of mutants in this city. They were getting ready for a big strike on them. Turns out these people were just all taking some drug, strange after effects but nothing genetically freaky."

"What does Daniel think of all this?"

"He's glad. He hates going in and just wiping out a population where some of the people might just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He doesn't particularly like killing the mutants, but at least he knows that's the right thing to do." Sandra shuddered internally, consoling herself with the thought that, try as she might, she was never going to be able to protect her children from the outside influences that told them all mutants were bad. They'd been brought up in a world where just about anything strange could be shot on sight. It was a different world to the one she used to know.

"Did you know that Ade and Tammy's Dad was coming down?" Kelly asked.

"Yes, Ade said on the phone." She wondered when Kelly had started dropping the 'Uncle' and 'Aunt'.

"I don't think I ever met him."

"You did, but I'm not sure you would remember. We saw him a lot when you were very little, but his wife died before you were born and he did lots of travelling with Ade and Tammy as a way to get away from it so he wasn't in one place for very long. He came to Liz's first birthday party, you would only have been eleven. That was about the time he started to settle down again. We saw him a couple of times after that, but I think you were at College or away with Daniel. We never see enough of him. He and Mum are were" She sighed biting her lip. "It's going to take some getting used to, not having her around."

"He's not well either." Kelly said.

"Hmm?" Sandra asked absently.

"Their Dad, he's not very well either. It sounds like he's got the same thing Gramma had."

"Oh no." Sandra whispered.

"I thought you should know, to prepare your self. They don't come down until tomorrow either, Tammy's driving them." Sandra nodded.

"Thank you. Well, I guess it's going to be an interesting reunion." She fought out a smile, looking back at the others. "You ready for this?"


	8. Middle 3

Middle 3

AN: I'm ignoring Nikki, she caused too much trouble for Katianna in Serum.

"It's been a long time." Amy greeted him at the door, smiling and pulling him into a hug. She hadn't changed at all, he mused, in the time it had been since he had seen her last. Her smile was a little quieter, she looked a little older, wiser perhaps. She didn't vibrate with the energy she had once lived for.

"I wasn't sure you'd want to see me." Adam replied. She simply turned away, stepping inside and leaving him to follow.

"It's been _too_ long, Adam, almost thirty years. It didn't take me long to realise that it was never completely your fault. But by then you'd disappeared into the realms of red tape and misinformation. I saw you make the papers a few times, it was nice to see that you were still alive." She turned back and gave him a grin. "Emmy, we have company." She shouted down a hall before leading him into a small sitting room and taking a seat.

"Emmy?" Adam asked.

"Emily, my daughter." She offered, grinning as a lanky blond teen appeared in the doorway, arms crossed, hair ruffled, and looking the picture of her mother when she was younger.

"Nice you meet you Emily." Adam said, holding out a hand to shake. She eyed it for a moment before taking it in a strong grasp. "I'm Adam, an old friend of your Mum." She grunted and headed back into what he assumed was her room.

"She's a teenager, what can I say." Amy laughed.

"I know exactly what you mean." Adam laughed along with her, thinking of Shalimar and Jesse when they had been in their teens.

"Have you had kids?"

"Not of my own, no. But I took in a young girl and then a younger boy at about that age. They've all grown up now."

"You missed the best bits."

"Oh, I don't know. To watch them grow into who they are today" 

"Do you know where she is?" The question seemed to jump out of the blue, but Adam didn't need to ask who she was referring to. Her child, her and Rachel's child, the result of the combination of their genes and the small alterations that he had made to make the whole thing possible. The reason for Rachel's death.

"Yes, I've been keeping an eye on her, trying my best to keep her safe."

"Is she OK?"

"Yes." He wanted to tell her so much more, but it wasn't the way it could be. They had decided, a long long time ago. And no more would be said.

"I'm glad. I thought you'd sought me out to tell me"

"Oh no." He shook his head. "I'm sorry to scare you. I came here because I needed your help, your advice."

"Well, that's a new one." She laughed briefly, looking mildly shocked.

"I need you to dissuade me from offering this," He held the folder out to her. "To a couple I know."

She opened the simple cardboard folder, her breath catching as she saw the photo on front page. She trailed her fingers down the sides of it, her eyes shutting for a moment as she blinked away tears.

"But it didn't work"

"The situation is different, I know things now I didn't then. I can make it work this time." She looked at the photo again.

"I I don't have any pictures of her." She admitted, tears trailing down her cheeks unhindered. "I was upset, I threw them out. I was so angry with myself afterwards."

"Mom?" Emily was at her mother's side immediately as she saw the tears. "What is it? Do you want him to leave?" The older woman laughed softly.

"No, no. I'm OK. Just old memories." She handed the girl the file, showing her the photo. "My first love." She explained. "Eight years we were together. She died giving birth to our girl." Emily nodded and flicked through the file, seeming to read all of the information. Adam wondered exactly how much she would take in and understand from what she read.

"You tried to make a kid together? Two women? How is that possible?" She exclaimed, going back to a page and re-reading it.

"She's a smart kid." Amy laughed at Adam's surprise. He simply nodded.

"This is mind-blowing." The girl exclaimed again. She stopped on the last page, her face dropping. Adam knew what was shown there. The small note recording the day it all went wrong, the readouts, the information. The end. She looked at this for a moment, thinking of what she had heard them saying. A small slip of card fell out of the back of the folder, landing on her lap and she picked it up. 'A Thanksgiving' the main title read. It was a simple invitation card. "It didn't work." She said quietly.

"No." Adam answered simply.

"But the baby" She looked between the card and the file, confused at the inconsistencies. Adam looked to Amy, this was her story to tell.

"I decided to put her up for adoption. I was a mess, I couldn't have taken care of her as well as she needed. I don't know where she is, but I know she's OK. She'd be almost thirty now. Your older sister."

They watched as Emily flicked back to the photo on the front page.

"She's prettier than Libby." She said decisively. Amy laughed out loud.

"Oh good. Just don't compare her to Steve."

"Steve?" Adam asked.

"Her 'Father'." She replied, putting the word in finger quotes leaving Adam no doubts about the lengths this man had gone to in fatherhood. "He stuck around long enough to get me pregnant and appears now and again with money to soothe his conscience. Libby got me through the pregnancy and out the other side in one piece. She's still around but it's more or less platonic between us now. It didn't work out, and it's better just us, isn't it Emmy." The teen scowled at the nickname and even more at the kiss on the forehead that followed it.

"What was she like?" Emily asked, voice quiet. For a moment it looked like Amy might refuse, or close up, or retort in anger. A barrage of emotions crossed her face in a short space of time but eventually settled on calm regret.

"We met at a party when we were in college. I walked past her a couple of times and she was hidden in a corner looking terribly worried. She looked so adorable I pulled her on to the dance floor. Of course, I'd never seen her before so I didn't know about her leg and there was me trying to get her to dance. She tried so hard, but it was just hysterical. We had such a laugh." She smiled at the memory; her face lit, if just for a moment, with the energy Adam remembered from all those years ago.

"What was wrong with her leg?" Emily asked, curious.

"She was caught in an earthquake, a building landed on her." Adam knew that was only part of the story. He also knew the truth, the truth she had told few people in her life. Of her disturbed mother and often absent father. Found by her mother kissing another girl her mother had flown into a rage and dragged her to the nearest church where she had been locked in the catacombs under the church when the earthquake had hit. The church, of old construction and not to the standards usually requested of buildings in the area, had collapsed around her and she had only been found before she suffocated because the girl who she had been found with told the rescue crew where she was. Her mother had died in the quake and her father seemed somehow relieved to get as far away from them as possible. She had moved in with her grandmother as soon as she had recovered enough from her injuries to be moved. "It left her with this terrible limp. At first I thought she was faking it to get out of the sports, or at least making it seem worse then it was, because we went out one day on a botany project and we walked miles that day and her limp got softer as we went along. By the end of the day you might not have thought she was the same woman. So I dragged her up this mountain somewhere, I can't even remember where it was. I decided that if I saw her struggling we'd stop and go back down. I didn't even think that it would be worse for her going down than going up. We got to the very top of this peak and I almost had to carry her back down. We had such a good laugh though, we did it again. It didn't half get me fit." She looked down at her hands and they all sat silent for a moment, waiting for her to go on. "Adam, if you think you can get this to work." She lifted the file and handed it back to him. "If you _really_ think you can make it work then give it to them. Nothing will make them happier than a child. I couldn't imagine life without Emily. I only wish I could have Rachel here to share it with me."


	9. Beginning 3

Beginning 3

He looked at the piece of card in his hand, feeling his heart race. He couldn't do it. He couldn't.

"A thanksgiving," The card read, "For the lives of Rachel Waiter and her unborn child." Her unborn child He hated it. For the first time in his life he hated what his work represented, here on this page. Hated the secrecy that Genomex demanded. That he'd agreed to. Hated that the child - another success for Genomex - would disappear because one parent had died and the other The other couldn't live without her.

He put down the gilt edged card, feeling his hands shake as the emotions flooded over him. He had killed one of his best friends, destroyed the life of another. The look in her eyes when he had stood there and told her.

__

"She's dead Amy, I'm so sorry." The hatred. He had run then, to hide behind the plans and the readouts. To try and find out why. Why he had failed her, failed them.

The child, greatly premature would need the best the Genomex had to offer if she was to survive. Her immune system would need bolstering and she would need strengthening in bone and muscle if she were to have any chance of a normal life. He knew the techniques that would be used on her and knew that they had been proven to work in the past - producing in some cases astonishing results in premature or genetically damaged infants. Maybe he would work her case himself, keep and eye on her as she made her way into the world. He was her godfather after all.

But now her family mourned her passing and her mothers, even though she, though alone, had survived. He couldn't go to this funeral and watch Rachel's friends and family mourn the passing of two lives when it should only be one. He couldn't listen to them telling of what the world had lost when he was responsible for her death. He couldn't look into Amy's eyes

Some part of him was angry with her for being weak. For leaving the child in the cares of Genomex, like she meant nothing to her second mother. For asking him to never talk of her again. For putting that weight on him. She was her child, however hard it was to explain.

No, he wouldn't go. He would stay at home. There was a young couple whose case he was working on, they wanted to have a child but were aware that due to their particular genetics there was a high probability that any child they had would suffer from the genetic disorder muscular sclerosis. If he could find a genetic alteration to remove and replace the damaged genes they could have a healthy child.

He scribbled down another set of notes in the border of the readouts and scans from the couple's genetic profiles. He had an answer to the problem and the couple were free to have their child. If they needed the treatment then it was available to them and the genetic fault could be completely corrected.

He closed the folder and sat for a moment in the silence that his apartment offered. It seemed for a moment that it might swallow him as, the work put to one side, he began to think of his friends once more.

It was late, the ceremony would be over by now and people returning home to spend a little time mourning privately before they returned to their lives proper.

He wondered what Amy would do now. He couldn't imagine her sat in their flat alone, it was a place that held memories of them both, together. It was hard now to see them separately in his mind at all. Except for that one moment _"I'm so sorry"_ They had been perfect together. It was all his fault.


	10. End 4

End 4

AN: Walked up Scarfell Pike the other day and had a chat with Rachel and Amy on the way down. They had lots of things to say, but one thing they were adamant about was that they didn't like being written out so soon. As one of the major pairings I think that's fair so they should be making a reappearance at some point.

Liz looked around herself with glee as Kelly pulled into a side road with a lavish sign proclaiming "Sanctuary Hotel - The only Underground Hotel in the World" and below it a smaller sign with "No Vacancies" printed on it. Liz had been to Adrian's hotel more than once before and never ceased to be amazed by the huge building, almost completely concealed from the outside world. If Adrian hadn't put up the signs it was possible to drive right by it or sit in the carpark on the roof without even knowing it was there. Kelly ignored all the signs for the hotel carpark which took up the hilltop that covered the hotel and drove into the private carpark inside of the hotel's main doors. Adrian had once told Liz a fabulous story about when the hotel had been a hideaway for a group of freedom fighters and, if they wanted to, they could make the whole building disappear completely. He still could, he whispered to her, if you pressed these buttons and typed in this code he laughed then, but somehow she had always remembered those codes. It felt like something important to her. He had also told her of the aeroplane hanger on the barred-up east wall of the hotel and dared her to find it, but she had always though that this was a little excessive for his story and laughed with him. 

Whether or not the stories he told her were true, Liz had always found the building enchanting and very mystical as did many others who turned up to spend their holidays in one of his many rooms. The longer summer holidays like this one, he was usually fully booked, but never to full to turn away family he always emphasised. Liz jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, stretching and looking around the concrete and glass structure that held several cars belonging to the staff who worked in the hotel and an ancient-looking motorbike which was Adrian's. Ade had been sad to make the huge garage that had been here into a smaller one to make space for more rooms to house his guests, but the extra room meant more guests to enjoy the place and so he was satisfied.

"The hotel is underground?" Sarah asked as she stepped out of the car after Liz.

"Yup. I'll take you for a walk later and you can try and explain to me how it all works. It looks like a tiny hill from out there," She gestured out of the door, "And it stretches for miles in here." She pointed through the door into the hotel. "It's magic."

Grabbing their bags from the car they wandered into the main hall and stood in the reception area staring around at the beautiful room around them. Far from being cold and dark like most underground buildings, this was bright and warm, filled with wooden walls and steel beamed ceilings. A set of stairs ran up to a corridor with many doors leading into rooms from it, and several other corridors ran from the central hall. At the far end of the room a group of people were sat on a raised platform seemingly meditating. Water ran beneath the platform and fell down the wall behind it and small candles bobbed up and down in the pool at their feet. Aside from the visitor's rooms that had been placed wherever space allowed, the building had changed very little from how Sandra might have recognised it from her youth.

Adrian appeared from one of the rooms and headed over to them, putting a finger to his lips and pointing to the people meditating. Pulling the computer desk out from the wall he entered their details and then led them out into another room labelled 'private'.

Satisfied that they wouldn't disturb the people in the hall he grinned, pulling Sandra and then the others in turn into a hug.

"Welcome to the chaos that is Sanctuary at peak time. Sorry about that."

"No problem. Are you very busy?"  
"Heaving." He laughed. "But never to full to turn away family." He winked at Liz as she hid a smile at the phrase.

Reaching Sarah he paused. "You must be Sarah." He nodded knowingly. "Nice you finally meet you." He laughed. "Welcome to the family."

He glanced at his watch and grimaced. "I hope you don't mind if I throw you the keys and run. I have to get the kitchen staff sorted for dinner and check up on a few things before I can relax. Meet you at seven in the bar Sand? We have rather a lot to discuss."

"Sure." Sandra grinned sadly. "I'm glad to see that nothing changes, loving us and leaving us as always." Adrian blew her a kiss, grabbing the last two sets of keys hung in a cupboard on the side and throwing them at the group.

"You'll have to fight over the rooms. We don't have much space I'm afraid." He said. "Oh, and feel free to explore the East Annex guys, no one lives down there, it's all my junk. Go in room E1 and you'll find some photos, see if you can find your mum when she was younger." He called as he disappeared down the hall. Kelly turned to them all.

"I'm going to take Shaz back to our room. We're in A5, come find us if you need anything."

"Thank you hostess." Sandra grinned, laughingly. "We'll be glad to." When Kelly had disappeared with Shazné staring after them sadly over her mother's shoulder, Sandra looked at the keys. "Two twin rooms. Looks like we're sharing a room Dave. Unless of course you want to try splitting these two up." Dave gave Liz and Sarah a serious look.

"No, I think we'll share a room." He offered, still serious. Laughing lightly all four made their way to their respective rooms.


	11. Middle 4

Middle 4

Emma sat quietly by the pillar of the dojo, pretending not to watch Shalimar as she worked out - using the whole of Sanctuary as she leapt from banister to post, stretching her toned body to the extremes of its tolerance. Emma had a pen and writing paper in her hands but so far all that had been written was a simple 'Dear Sally' to the psionic that she had befriended many months ago and kept correspondence with. Somehow it seemed there were things more important at the moment. After their talk Emma had thought they had managed to get things straight. But they hadn't slept together since that day a week ago, Shalimar marching off to bed early and shutting her door behind her pointedly each day. Emma couldn't think of a time that Shalimar had ever locked her door before. She had always been so open for them all. So available. She smiled at the thought of the one time that Jesse had appeared in Shalimar's room for some advice. His shock had vibrated so hard she thought it might physically knock her out of the bed she was sharing with Shalimar at the time.

She could feel the steaming turbulence of Shalimar's emotions as she sped around the huge room and hoped she would allow them to break soon. The more she worked out it seemed the more pent up her emotions got. If she kept swallowing them back like Emma knew she was trying to do it could only be worse for her in the long run. With emotions so strong there were only two directions in which they could break. Tears or anger. Emma couldn't think of one time that she'd ever seen Shalimar _really_ angry. A little pissed of at the bad guy perhaps, nervous anger when Ashlocke had been around, but never the kind of violent anger that this volume of emotion would channel itself into. She prayed for tears.

Realising she could no longer hear Shalimar training she looked up from her thoughts.

At first she couldn't see nor hear any sign of the feral. But listening closely she heard a harsh muffled sob, followed by a second, and silently thanked whoever was responsible for such things.

__

AN: Probably shouldn't put author's notes in the middle of fics, but hell, this is an unorthodox fic anyway. I was having some problems with this chapter, not sure I wanted to bring it back here again, but it's 12 at night, I found out today that my cat has died and I'm not at home to say goodbye or - at the very least - thank my little brother for being there for her when I can't be. Suddenly I'm finding this scene a lot easier to write. For Rebecca.

Looking for the source of the muffled sobbing, she eventually tracked it to a corner of the room, concealed from the wider expanses by a pillar. She took a seat beside Shalimar silently, maintaining an artificial distance between them. All she wanted was to be at arms reach if Shalimar needed her, wanted her. Her smothered sobs weighed on Emma's heart, made her want to pull her close and hold her until it was all better. But this couldn't get 'all better'. There was no magic plaster that she could put over this wound. It was just building up the scar tissue. Weighing her down. Her hand on Shalimar's shoulder, a soft kiss, kind words, this was all she could offer. At her touch, Shalimar moved so her head lay in Emma's lap and Emma's hand moved to her temple as she sobbed and hiccuped. Drawing soft circles on her brow she sought to calm her. She seemed to remember her mother, so very long ago, drawing the same circles on her own brow and her heart tugged with loss - her loss, Shalimar's loss - they'd all lost something somewhere along the line. She wondered how much they would have to lose before they lost themselves. Had she already lost herself? Had Shalimar?

"What would you have called her?" It struck her afterwards - when her mind wasn't in such a dark, maudlin place, swimming with Shalimar's emotions - that this was a terrible thing to ask. But Shalimar sniffed and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve and answered quite matter of factly.

"Rebecca. Stephen for a boy."

"Rebecca." Emma rolled the name around in her mind for a moment and then let it go as you might release a bird from a cage. "Goodbye Rebecca." She said sadly and kissed Shalimar's forehead.

"How do you know it was a girl?" Shalimar asked, managing the smallest of smiles.

"Oh, she was beautiful. I met her. She had blond hair that was long and straight and she wore it down so that when she laughed it all shook around her face like it had a mind of its own and was laughing along. She had soft blue eyes that she always had wide open to take in the whole world around her, as much as she could at a time. And she laughed. Beautiful laughter. Laughter that makes the saddest person smile. We both loved her very much. But she wasn't to be." Shalimar's breathing quickened and Emma wondered apprehensively if she had done the right thing, telling her about her dream.

"Thank you." Shalimar's whisper was full of new and unshed tears.

"Cry it all out Shalimar, things will start to look a little better after a while. Scar tissue fades." And so she cried, safe in her lover's arms, until thing started looking a little better. And then she cried a little more for good measure. Emma was asleep when she was finished, cried out, and so she lifted her from the floor and carried her in strong arms to their bed. Together they slept. And Shalimar dreamed.


	12. Beginning 4

Beginning 4

His name was Kurt and he was five years older than her eleven years. He hung around with a group of boys his age, terrorising anyone who they felt they could, smoking and riding motorbikes. Her friends swooned over him every time he walked by, but she always found herself paying a lot more attention to his friend's tall pouting girlfriend (but knew this was wrong because girls weren't supposed to look at other girls like that, were they. She resolved to put more effort into looking at boys.) and his motorbike. Although she could see that he had broad shoulders and dark eyes and more than adequately filled his pants (all the aspects her friends all pointed out to each other in whispers whilst fighting with giggles) she just couldn't see what they saw in him.

But when he stopped one day instead of walking past, it was her that he looked at - not one of her giggling swooning friends - her that he talked to. She was taller than most of her friends, skinny from an early growth spurt, and her face had lost its childhood roundness in exchange for the thin elegance of an adult face much earlier than most. Though she could not know it at the time it was the feral genes deep within her that brought her to puberty earlier than her friends, her very own curse.

He gave her friends (still giggling behind shaking hands and knock-kneed at his nearness) a disdainful glance and then winked at her, making her smile at him softly, silently agreeing with his sentiment.

"Excuse me _girls_." He said. "I'm just going to borrow your friend for a moment." And he took hold of her hand and led her away from them.

"I've been watching you." Kurt told her, face serious. Shalimar thought about how terribly horror-movie that sounded and lost her self to giggles for a moment. Kurt frowned, looking rather hurt, so she quickly suppressed her laughter. "You're very beautiful and I wondered if you'd come to the movies with me?" The air was suddenly tense. 'Why not?' A voice said, 'A free cinema ticket.' 'But it's not right.' Another voice said. 'And you don't know him'

"I'd love to." She smiled. "When will you pick me up?"

Suddenly she was the centre of attention. Everyone wanted to know how she'd done it. She had a date with KURT. His name alone deserved neon lights and capital letters. And he picked her up that night on his motorbike and drove them to the cinema.

She yawned again, and looked down at Kurt's hand where it lay on her knee. She had the undeniable urge to push it away from her, or maybe to hit him. Perhaps hitting him would be more effective because pushing him away had failed once. He looked over at her and grinned and the light from the huge screen lit his face hideously. She turned back to the film. 'Think of your friends.' She thought to herself. 'What they wouldn't give to be in your place. To have his hand on their knee.'

It was his _first_ prom. And he had invited _her_ When her friends had heard that she had turned him down they had dragged her back to him to offer her apologies on her behalf. 'She's shy' they explained. "No I damn well mph urph." Came the hastily muffled call from behind them. 'She really would like to come with you. She's coming out shopping with us tomorrow for a dress.' There was a thump as the girl with her hand clamped over Shalimar's mouth collided with the floor and she stormed forward through the crowd. And she came face to face with Kurt, just about ready to tell him exactly how awful her date had been and give her friends a piece of her mind and smiled.

"Yeah, I'd love to come to the prom with you."

They were in someone's house, still part of the prom he assured her. They were sat on a sofa and he had his hand on her knee again. She wondered if it was a possessive thing. 'This is mine. See me hold it.' She wasn't sure if she wanted to be his. But she did love the dress that her friends had forced her into. Long (her choice) and tight fitting (theirs), her mother had done a double take and her father had given her a strange look. She looked every bit as old as the other girls here. Older than some of them. Someone handed something to Kurt and he grinned at them, giving them a high five. He stood and offered her his hand.

"Are we going now?" She asked.

"No, we have the whole night ahead of us baby." He slurred, pulling her close in to his body. She wondered how much alcohol had been in the punch that she'd refused as per her father's instructions.

"Where are we going then?"

"You just follow me." He smiled and pulled her up a flight of stairs. He stopped at every door and pressed his head against them (she could have told him if they were empty or not, but it seemed to be some kind of ritual and she didn't want to disturb him) until he finally came to an empty room. He swung the door open to reveal a double bed, what seemed to be the parent's bedroom.

"Jackpot!" He cried, throwing himself into the bed and dragging her with him. Not sure quite what was going on, Shalimar stretched out beside him. She still wasn't sure what he was doing as he started wriggling out of his trousers and tearing apart a small square plastic packet.

Ten minutes later Shalimar Fox would never be the same again.


	13. End 5

End 5

The corridors wound and twisted, following stairs up and down all over the place. When they finally reached their destination, Sarah and Liz's room was small and plain. Two single beds faced the door and next to the door there was a table and a pair of chairs. A small door lead into a shower room and toilet and a huge bay window between the beds looked out onto what could have been any city seen from the top of a tower block. Only they knew it wasn't, because they were deep underground. Sarah watched the view out of the window bemused.

"There are people moving down there and the guy in the block opposite has just turned his light on."

"It's great isn't it. There's one in each room." Liz pushed a small panel open. "People used to complain that there wasn't enough natural light - I mean, what do they expect, we're under ground - and there were a hole load of holographic projectors dumped in one of the store rooms." She flicked a switch and the scene became the quiet countryside, again and it became a beach, once more and it became a show-covered mountaintop. "It only takes one to run one of these screens and it took hundreds to run whatever they had set up here before Ade took over. Every room had the best view in the hotel."

Sandra greeted all of the staff she recognised as she walked the halls towards the bar. David had already excused himself to the games room so she was sure he would be occupied for hours. Seizing the free table she had spotted in the bar, she didn't have long to wait before Adrian appeared, smiling and greeting people as he came. He sighed as he sat down beside Sandra.

"Hey Sand." He laughed. "Nice to see you."

"It's been too long Ade. You're looking tired." She frowned.

"This place is only getting busier, and things have been hard recently." She simply nodded, not ready to talk about her mother just yet.

"How's Tammy and your Dad? Are they still OK getting down here?"

"They're coming down slowly, they'll be OK. But" Adrian sighed again. "It sounds like Dad's getting ill, like you Mum did."

"How bad is it?"

"Oh, it's only in the early stages, but he's loosing control on a regular basis and Tammy says it's progressing faster than your Mum's did. He might not be with us for much longer." Sandra didn't need to ask what he was loosing control of. And it would have been too dangerous for Adrian to say it out loud, because to be a mutant - or a relation of a mutant - was an automatic death sentence, to be carried out by whoever felt they could. If you could prove your victim was a mutant all murder could be forgiven.

"Oh Ade, I'm so sorry." She took hold of his hands across the table, clasping them tight.

"I'm worried that that he might lose control during the funeral. It would put us all in danger."

"We'll just have to choose very carefully who comes, Ade. That's the only way we can do it. There are still people living here, aren't there? People who don't pay board?"

"Yes, there are ten. They'll all volunteer to help keep us safe without question, but I don't want to put them as risk, not for the sake of a funeral, Sand. Some of them are so sick they can't leave their rooms safely."

"We'll just have to be careful."


	14. Middle 5

Middle 5

Adam placed the folder back on the table as he sat down at his desk in Sanctuary. The one person he felt sure would have dissuaded him from offering the treatment to Shalimar and Emma as an option had all but encouraged him. Now there was only one more thing he had to do before going ahead with it. One more reality he had to face.

Opening the folder he reached into the back cover and pulled out two disks, one labelled 'report' and the other labelled 'data'. The height of technology they may have been, the floppy disks were almost completely obsolete now. But pulling out an old external floppy drive and several attachments he linked it up to his computer and placed the disk labelled 'data' into the drive, putting the other to one side.

A folder appeared, full of the raw data and readings taken from Rachel during her pregnancy. It was sad, impersonal information, which made Adam wonder at how easy it was to lose a friend in figures and charts. Hidden inside a folder inside a folder, buried where it was thought no one would bother to look, a folder entitled 0036 held what Adam was searching for.

Every patient that Adam had ever worked with at Genomex - whether it was one meeting or a long period of treatment - had one of these files embedded in their data folder. It had been his own way of making sure these people and their children were more than just numbers. He skimmed over the first few pages _"Rachel came in today full of excitement, the treatment has worked, she's pregnant." "Amy's positively glowing, telling me about all her plans." "She's experiencing morning sickness quite badly." "She's going to make a wonderful mother." "She's being as supportive as she can."_ and moved to later notes. Three months in came the beginnings of the nightmare. Nothing big, or hugely unusual, but then it hadn't been a usual pregnancy.

__

"Rachel fell today as she walked into my office. Amy almost caught her, but was just too late, and the laughed it off as if it was something not at all unusual. I had never seen her lose her balance like that before and so I asked and Rachel explained that she'd been having some trouble with her balance over the last few weeks. I may have lost my temper with her a little, but I couldn't see how they could both brush this off when they had been SPECIFICALLY told to phone me if anything unusual showed itself. I took as many tests as I could think of that might help find out what's going on and I'm waiting on the results. It might be nothing, (a change in Rachel's balance due to the extra weight that she hasn't had a chance to compensate for?) but it is worrying."

Adam skipped forward a way. He knew the results of the tests. The child was drawing all sorts of unusual resources from its mother, at only three months. Most specifically the infant was removing thyroid hormones from its mother, and almost directly, causing problems with her balance and co-ordination that only got worse as the pregnancy progressed. It was unheard of that a foetus could do that. But it was happening. All he could do was watch.

__

"Rachel is beginning to look quite round now and she's looking very tired. I think some of that might be due to Amy's limitless energy stores. Maybe I should have a talk with her about toning it down a little. She's much to excitable at times. Recent results suggest the baby might need treatment when it's born, there muscle structure that it's beginning to form is strangely arranged. We probably won't know more about this until it is here with us, we can't risk scanning further without damaging it. It is also growing faster than is normal. It's possible we may have to deal with a premature birth. The complications are mounting, but they both seem to be safe at the moment. I'm upping the frequency of the check-ups, I don't want to miss anything."

At least they would both be nearby, Adam thought, angry at his stupidity at the time. To blame Rachel's tiredness on Amy instead of seeing it for what it was. The facts were right there in the data he had collected. The signs. A problem. A real problem_. "She WHAT? Bring her in NOW! I'll meet you at the front gates."_ A terrible problem what he could never hope to fix. He sat back in his chair, unable to see the screen any more through the haze of tears that were clouding his vision, the scene playing out before his eyes. Their fight. Rachel's fight. Defeat. A silent infant with wide brown eyes. Amy's face. _"I'm so sorry."_

"Adam?" Shalimar.


	15. Beginning 5

Beginning 5

AN: I have of course taken great liberty in the ages but I worked hard to put a believable time line together for all of the existing characters so that I could build my own around them. Any big objections to the age differences etc that I bring up, please point them out. I like to at least try to keep with cannon. Of course, every other word of the last ep of this season made a mess of that timeline so it's being pointedly ignored. (28! 28! How the bloody hell can Jesse be 28 when he meets Adam!?!) Anyway, it's too late to change it now.

The music was a thick beat in her head. It thudded through her as if it were pulling at her heart through her chest. As if the next beat might pull it full out of her body. She was alone in the milling crowds of hundreds who stood around her, touched her, moved her. Everything around her smelt of smoke and alcohol and hot bodies. She shuddered, she cried out. A hand on her shoulder made her scream out loud and someone jumped back and away from her.

The emotions of the people in the arena around her flooded her young senses and made her wonder at the sanity of the world. The man in the corner who was smiling and nodding at the musicians on the stage was considering suicide. The woman stood next to him was so high that her emotions went from big and happy to little and sad in the blink of an eye. The young mind knew nothing of this though. She only felt what they felt and wished, in her innocence, that there was something she could do to help them. And her power reached out and touched these people and days later they would find themselves together and happier than they had ever been. But she was scared of the noise, mental and physical, and she could feel the sadness of loneliness pushing tears into her eyes. There were only two people in the world who she knew could ease that fear, that loneliness. She reached out to her parents who turned as one from the stage, realising their daughter was missing, and walked shoulder to shoulder towards her. They saw her immediately and her mother gathered her into her arms.

"There you are." She smiled. "You shouldn't run off like that. It's a grace of destiny that we found you." She smiled that motherly smile, eyes not quite focused with the chemicals in her blood stream. Emma simply smiled, glad to have been found, however it had happened.

I don't believe in destiny - do you?

The music was a thick beat in her head. It thudded through her as if it were pulling at her heart through her chest. As if the next beat might pull it full out of her body. She was alone in the milling crowds of hundreds who stood around her, touched her, moved her. Everything around her smelt of smoke and alcohol and hot bodies. She shuddered, she cried out. A hand on her shoulder made her scream out loud and someone jumped back and away from her.

Her senses flared at the overload they were experiencing, making her wonder at her own sanity. She ran for the door, bumping from person to person as she struggled past them. She hit the door hard and had to slow herself, calm herself long enough to get enough sense back to pull the door towards her and twist the doorknob at the same time. She stumbled as she ran onto the lawn and fell, sobbing, onto the soft grass, savouring its embrace for a moment. Someone appeared from around the house, overflow from the party inside, and they stopped short as they came across her.

"Wow man, how'd you do that with your eyes?" They asked, slightly unsteadily. She pulled herself upright and started running, vowing never to stop.

She was walking, she realised, and had been for some time. The sun was stalking the horizon and that was one game of cat and mouse that could never be won by the mouse. She stopped as she came across a lit house where almost all other lights in the street were off and realised that this was her own. She fell into the porch and sat in the corner for a moment, realising that there was something on the edge of her consciousness that hadn't been there before. Something wild. Something with a whispering voice which told her how nice it might be to take a life, to live in the night and not in the day. Something feral which was to become more than half of who she was as her innocence fell away fully and she lost herself.

But for now it was only a whisper. And the door opened, spilling honey light onto the porch and she was gathered into warm arms and lifted inside. She was cold, so cold the warmth of the house and the blanket wrapped around her almost burned and she fought to shake them off. Her mind was filled with a buzzing, her body ached, and there were always the whispers. Always the whispers.

So she cried.


	16. End 6

End 6

Sandra looked up from where she sat in the breakfast room, nearly deserted at this early hour. Spotting Kelly walking with Shazné across the hall she stepped out to talk to them.

"Good morning Mum." Kelly greeted, pulling her mother into a hug.

"Nana!" Shazné giggled and Sandra took her hand, seeing that her mother was glad of the spare hand to search for her car keys in her bag.

"Are you going out to meet Daniel?" Sandra asked.

"Yes, he'll be here in an hour or so, I thought I'd wait for him at the airport."

"Do you mind if I come with you?"

"No, I'd love some adult company."

Sandra smiled as she listened to her grandaughter laugh heartily at something only she knew. A dog skittered past, pads and claws finding no purchase on the slippery tiles of the airport flooring, and the young girl's attention was diverted again. The dog dashed around one set of chairs, chased by its master, and skidded to a stop in from of her, sniffing curious at her. She giggled and sniffed back, patting it on the head as it wagged its tail in approval of this action. Its master caught up with him and the dog was oblivious to its recapture, lost in the examining of this new and curiously small human.

Sandra watched Shazné's face carefully as the dog was pulled away, wondering if perhaps even at the fourth generation there would be enough in her genes to but the child displayed nothing out of the ordinary. She simply watched the animal go sadly.

Kelly reappeared with coffees and a juice for Shazné, seeing the look in her mother's eyes and wondering at its cause. She jumped as the polystyrene cup was waved under her nose and Kelly sat down beside her.

"Where were you?" Kelly laughed.

"Oh, a long way away." She sighed. "In a different world in fact." She shook her head as if to shake off the unwanted thoughts. "I'm sorry you had to be around when your gramma went through her last days."

"Oh, I'm glad we were here, I'm glad she got to meet her first great grandchild. I'm glad she wasn't alone. You couldn't tell, you know. It wasn't any worse than any other day. She just didn't wake up that morning."

"What have you told the little one?"

"Oh, I told her she'd gone to be with god. I seem to remember that's what you told David about Dad and it seemed to console him a little. She doesn't really understand yet, but she's OK."

"I'm I think it might be better if you didn't come to the funeral. Liz and David either. This is bad enough for you without all of that." Kelly looked up at her mother, shocked.

"What? No! We're coming to the funeral. She was out grandmother! We all loved her very much. And it hurts, mum, but that's the way it has to be." Shazné, sensing the anger between her mother and grandmother, began to cry, diverting their attention. When she was consoled Kelly had forgotten what they had been talking about.

When Daniel walked through the doors and embraced his wife and then his mother-in-law he wouldn't have been able to tell that there was anything wrong.

But there was.

Sandra didn't want her children at that funeral if her Uncle was planning on pulling some kind of stunt. She had spent too long trying to keep them safe from the truth to expose them to it now, after so long. She watched her first grandchild climbing all over her father as he tried to hold on to her.

There was too much at stake now.


	17. Middle 6

Middle 6

"Adam, what's wrong?" She was at his side fussing as soon as she saw his tears. Adam thought of Emily and realised much these young people had become his family.

"It's nothing. I'm OK, Shalimar. Honest." He wiped the moisture away with the sleeve of his jumper and closed the file that was open on the screen.

"Hmm, this is nothing." She wiped her thumbs across his cheeks, smoothing away the marks that the trailing drops had left. "How much of the earth would 'something' destroy." She teased.

"You can talk, Little Miss 'I'm fine'." They laughed together for a while and Adam felt himself lift a little at Shalimar's smile, absent of late. His resolve strengthened. This was the right thing to do. "Can I" He paused and checked his watch, gasping at the early hour of the morning he found displayed there. "Tomorrow," He corrected. "At a more decent hour, can I talk to you and Emma. I have something important I want to show you." Shalimar frowned and nodded.

"Of course. What is it?"

"Tomorrow." Adam looked back up at Shalimar, realising it was her that had come to see him. "Why are you up so late early anyway?" He grinned.

"Oh, I had a dream. It wasn't anything, I just wanted I don't know. It doesn't matter. I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded and smiled as she left. Tomorrow it was then.

Emma woke early, surprised to find herself in her own bed and happy to find Shalimar, there at her side, where she belonged. She tried to slip silently out of bed, but a hand reached out and caught her wrist before she could before she could get far.

"Stay." A sleep-filled voice murmured from deep inside the covers. She laughed and shifted back under the quilt to rejoin the voice.

An hour later Shalimar and Emma emerged, showered and clean and ready for the new day. Hand in hand they wandered into the kitchen and grabbed their breakfast, sitting to enjoy the early morning light that somehow managed to seep into the room despite it being several meters underground.

"Adam wants to see us today, I almost forgot." Shalimar said, leaning back into the seat and closing her eyes.

"What for?"

"I'm not sure, he was being very mysterious about it, he wouldn't tell me."

"When was this?"

"Last night. I had a dream and went wandering. Found him crying, it was all very strange."

"You sure you didn't dream it, love?" Emma asked, teasingly. Shalimar opened her eyes and frowned.

"Fairly."

"Well let's go find out then." Emma said amiably.

Adam looked up as they walked into the lab and Shalimar laughed.

"Adam, you haven't moved or changed or slept since I saw you last night, have you?" Adam blinked at her owlishly, eyes objecting to so many hours in front of a computer screen.

"Um No." He replied. "Sit down, I'll be back in a moment." Emma and Shalimar shared a glance - it wasn't often they were told to sit while in Adam's lab. Adam reappeared moments later looking cleaner and more awake in a fresh set of clothes.

He sat in a chair facing the two of them.

"I have a proposition for you. Something that will not be easy, or safe, but is an option if you chose at take it. It was something I worked on a long time ago, while I was still with Genomex. A pair of friends approached me about finding a way to combine two woman's gametes to form a single xygote without fertilisation." He looked excited and they both looked at him blankly. He sighed. "I could give you a child that was truly yours, part of both of you." He explained. Shalimar and Emma exchanged a shocked glance. "There are problems with the process, huge problems, but I think they could be overcome. It has only been done once before and in that case it was unsuccessful, the birthing-mother died."

"Why do you think it will work this time?" Emma asked absently, frowning deeply and watching the emotions that were crossing Shalimar's face. Would Shalimar let her do this? Carry the child for her? Would simply having the child be enough for her, to release her from this curse?

"Because Shalimar isn't just a normal woman." Now Emma's attention was fixed on Adam.

"But I thought you said"

"This is not a normal pregnancy. It puts higher than normal strain on the mother and the birth is almost certainly going to be premature. But let me explain this to you. Most of the feral's problem with child-birth is that the DNA is asking for a very short gestation period and the foetus grows at a rate that requires the full nine months that is normal. A miscarriage occurs because the foetus isn't ready for what the body is asking for. In _this_ case the foetus grows at a faster rate than normal, almost fast enough to match up with the feral gestation period. So they would be close enough to not cause the problems that we would normally see in the feral. There's some other hormonal confusions, but these I can tackle as they appear. I know what to expect now."

"But it's putting Shalimar at risk? I mean, your friend _died_." Emma emphasised.

"Yes, it is a risk. But Shalimar, your body is going to start to feel it if you have another miscarriage. It's getting dangerous, what you're doing to your self." Shalimar looked up from the ground that she had been finding so interesting.

"I would"

"We need to talk about it." Emma interrupted, knowing instinctually what Shalimar wanted to say. "This is a big thing." She held Shalimar's eyes for a moment and smiled softly, sadly.

"We'll talk about it."


	18. Beginning 6

Beginning 6

AN: Was a little worried that I might not have put enough information into the previous chapter (beginning 5) to explain. The idea was that Emma was at the rock festival she described in 'Shock of the New' aged five. Hope it makes more sense now!

The doctor was an odd man, a pinched face and cold, cold hands. Or perhaps it was just that she had been more sensitive to the cold recently. She hadn't wanted to go and see him, sure that what she had was simply a tummy bug - or so she had assured her mother and father repeatedly. But they had brought her here all the same, because they were worried, they said whilst sharing glances that made Shalimar worry. What were they keeping from her that they would go against her wishes after so long of agreeing to avoid the doctors at her request. She shuddered at the touch of the man's hand on her wrist and he looked at her with one eyebrow raised as if asking a question. Had he asked a question? She hadn't been paying attention she realised. She'd been doing that a lot, not paying attention. Her parents had allowed her time off school, not pushing her, leaving her to sit around indoors. When she had snapped at them her father had been annoyed, but her mother had pushed him away and sat with her, just sat. She had liked that. The silence. Things were getting louder, she was sure and the light outside was too bright for her eyes.

The doctor tutted and shook his head, she felt like growling at him. She didn't want to be here, why should she be here? She would stand up and throw off their concerned hands, resting on her shoulders as she sat before the strange man, she would leap out of the window and find a place where she could hide from the bright lights until morning.

"You're pregnant, Shalimar. Do you understand what that means?" She looked at him blankly. Was he making fun of her? She snorted in laughter and his face became more pinched as the hands on her shoulders began to shake. "You're not taking me seriously, Shalimar. And this is a very serious matter."

She was going to have a child. There was something growing inside of her as she thought of it. It was her own, part of her. It grew through her. It made her ill, but it wasn't too bad when she thought of the end result. A child. Her own child. She wondered why she wasn't scared. She hadn't listened to much of what the doctor had told her after it had sunk in that he was telling her the truth. She had heard enough to know that she was very young to have a child, but she yearned for the danger of such an undertaking. She would survive, and the child would help her survive beyond that.

She was going to see another doctor, they told her. A different doctor. She would stay with this doctor for a while and he would make things all better. She wondered when her mother had resorted to talking to her in child's language. Things like this didn't just get 'all better'. She was going to have a child and somehow that made up for all of the pain. It made up for Kurt and that night, just the thought of holding a smaller Shalimar in her arms.

They had taken it from her.

She was alone again.

Without hope.

Empty.

She cried.


	19. End 7

End 7

Liz woke early, smiling to see holographic morning sunlight streaming in through the curtains. Slipping out from the hand that coiled around her waist she stood and stretched, watching as Sarah rolled onto her side and pulled the cover tighter around her to compensate for Liz's disappearance.

They had learned to sleep together in one single bed when Sarah had confessed to preferring staying over at Liz's and suffering the single bed to sleeping in her queen bed in the austere and faintly suffocating surroundings of her own home.

Watching her sleeping girlfriend Liz was filled with a great sense of uplifting and, changing quickly she headed outside, leaving a note to say where she was going.

She ran for as long as she felt she could, rejoicing in the feel of the wind in her face and the freshness of the air around her. She ran until her lungs strained for breath, remembering the times her mother and sister had run with her down these paths. Finally tiring she turned and began a slow jog back, taking her time on the route and watching in the trees and fields around her. Listening to the noise of the startled crickets as she walked though the wild flowers and seeing the goat scramble up to higher ground as she passed it by. A bird leapt out of it's nest in the ground cover and threw itself into the air, flapping. She tracked it across the sky as it skidded through the clouds and into the trees and continued on her way.

Liz stepped aside in the driveway of the hotel, hearing a car behind her. She smiled as she realised that it was Kelly driving and chased them into the garage to take charge of her niece as the adults picked up Daniel's bags and made their way inside. Adrian met them in the hall and took Shazné from Liz as she headed down to her room for a shower.

They were sat in the Breakfast room, Daniel recounting all of his tales of adventure from the last few months that he had spent away from his wife and daughter. He sat with them both close, his wife at his side and his daughter on his lap. They made quite the picture, Sandra thought, all together like that.

"You OK Mum?" Kelly asked, and she realised that she'd been drifting in the warm contentment of the moment.

"Yes, sorry. I'm somewhere else at the moment." Adrian jostled her.

"You're always somewhere else, Sand." He laughed. The breakfast room was beginning to fill as the hour grew later and together they stood and walked out into the main hall. The group were back on the platform, meditating once again and Adrian stood and watched them for a moment before he led them all into one of the living rooms.

"They're brave, showing such obvious difference." Sandra mentioned.

"Megan, the woman who leads them, she's one of our unpaid guests." Sandra shot him a sharp glance, motioning to Kelly and Daniel. "They know about our guests, Sand. Kelly's been working here, she's been helping some of them during their illnesses. There aren't any here now who aren't ill." Adrian sighed and met Sandra's gaze. 'I only told her what I had to.' His gaze said. She simply shook her head and looked away as Adrian continued telling them about the woman. "She used to meditate alone and then someone joined her one day. Now she does classes. People come back just to see her. She's getting very ill now, though. She won't survive much longer. She's very strong, but she's been fighting with it for a very long time. She was one of the first ones to start getting ill."

"Have you had many die?"

"Some. There are only ten here now, before there were almost forty. Some went home to try and find their families. Some were caught outside when they first started to loose control through the illness. We've had two reported by other guests. They sent soldiers down and There was nothing I could do" A moment's pain crossed his face and Daniel looked away, knowing he was a part of this pain. Knowing that he was part of the army that was responding to these kind of reports and 'taking care of the problem'. Adrian saw this and sighed. "I'm sorry Daniel, I know it's not your fault. You guys have to do what you're told otherwise it's just as dangerous for you."

"It shouldn't be this way." He stated firmly, and Sandra and Adrian shared a smile.

The door labelled E1 was hidden in the corner of a corridor that was cordoned off from the rest of the hotel. This was the private area, where Adrian's room could be found along with all of the security equipment for the hotel. This was also the place that all of the bits and pieces from the previous uses of the hotel had been hidden away. Behind the door Sarah expected to find a tiny room with perhaps a few boxes of photographs in it. What she didn't expect was a fair sized room wall to wall with boxes. A vague path meandered through the towers of boxes and she had to wander to the other end to see how many boxes there really were, some of the piles reached to the roof.

"They're not all photos." Liz laughed. "There are disks in some, and files in others." She pulled one box down from the top of a pile and found a space to put it down in and sit beside it. "Kelly and I used to explore these when I was really little. This was always my favourite box, maybe because I don't know any of the people in the photos." She pulled out the top photo. There was an older man and a younger man, both with black hair and wide grins. Behind them a blurred young woman with red hair was running towards the camera, seemingly chasing them.

"Did you ever ask Adrian who they were?" Sarah asked.

"No, I don't think I want to either. It's a mystery. I don't want to spoil it! Besides, they were photos that were here when Ade took over. He might not know who they were. I doubt they had anything to do with us." Pulling out another, clearer photo she found five faces staring out at her, all four in the process of stepping towards the photographer, the picture obviously staged. She smiled at the jostling going on between them as they stood in the line. Comradeship caught on camera.

"Hey, is this your Grandmother?" Sarah said, holding out the picture and pointing to the blond stood next to the tall dark haired young man from the other photo.

"I doubt it. Why do you ask?"

"She looks like your Mum, and like you too." Liz looked again.

"Really?" Liz asked, squinting at the photo and trying to see what Sarah saw.

"Definitely."

"Could be then. Do you think the guy next to her is my Grandpa?" She laughed.

"No, he doesn't look like you at all." Sarah replied seriously.

"Look, here's another picture of her." Liz pulled out a small picture of the blond in black and white. It was clipped to five other pictures, the other people all in black and white.

"Can I borrow these? Just for a little while." Sarah asked. "I want to try something."


	20. Middle 7

Middle 7

"What are you thinking?" Shalimar's question pulled Emma from her reverie. The silence they had fallen into when neither of them knew what to say had filled the room and seemed to put a barrier between them. The longer they sat in silence the wider the distance became.

"I'm angry at Adam." She replied, trying to keep her voice level, but feeling the tears rising. This was going to become an argument, she just knew it. It was there in the hidden anger in Shalimar's voice. Emma didn't want to argue.

"Why at Adam?"

"He hasn't thought this through. He hasn't thought about you."

"I assumed the whole thing was because he was thinking about me." Shalimar retorted. Emma flinched. It was starting.

"I thought we had it all sorted. I thought that it was OK, something you could put behind you."

"Put behind me!? Emma I don't think you understand this." Shalimar gasped, exasperated. "I don't think this is going to be something I can just put behind me. This isn't going to fit into a neat little box that I can hide away somewhere and forget about. You think I haven't been _trying_ to put this behind me? You think I _enjoy_ this? This has been going on my whole life. I have _fought_ with it and lost and won, but it's not going to go away just because we talked about it."

"I don't want to argue with you, Shalimar."

"I'm not arguing Emma, I'm telling you how this is. This is part of who I am. Adam has offered me a way to potentially finish it, _really_ put it behind me. Why do you object to that?"

"Because it's DANGEROUS, Shalimar. Because you might DIE. I don't think _you_ understand quite how much you _mean_ to me. I don't know what I would do without you. I don't know if I'd survive without you."

"I'm never going to leave you Emma. I love you. I would never leave you."

"Not on purpose, Shal." She whispered and stood, somehow feeling better facing this on her feet. She paced a moment and stopped abruptly. "Why, Shal? Why now more than before?"

"I don't think I've ever wanted it so bad." She admitted, hand covering her mouth as she bit her lip to try and control her emotions. "There was no down. You were here and you wanted it as much as I did. It was more it would have been more than just a child. It would have been a family." She sobbed and Emma had to take a seat, almost falling into the chair opposite. "I felt her slipping and I fought. I fought for her. I didn't want to loose this one. Not again." She sighed, a motion that made all of the tension fall from her shoulders to leave her slumped no longer angry, simply sad, in the chair.

"Why, Shalimar? Why would you risk that again?"

"Because I trust Adam. Because I don't want an ending. I don't want to watch my race die out because no one tried. I want a continuation - a future for everything that is me. My love, my hate, my dreams and experiences. I want someone to teach what I've been taught."

"And what if I said I would rather not be near to see you suffer that again?"

"You'd leave?" Shalimar asked, eyes full of shock and sadness.

"What if?"

"You mean so much more to me than this, Emma. I would never, _never_ I _couldn't_ let you leave like that. No. I would turn it down."

"And if you didn't do this, if you said no to Adam" Emma paused, frowning deeply. "Could you promise me that it would never happen again? That you would never go after" She trailed off, not wanting to voice what she was thinking. Shalimar looked away, desperately wanting to answer her question with a yes, but knowing it could never be the truth.

"I'm sorry" Emma held her head in her hands for a moment.

"I have to think." She said, standing jerkily.

"Emma"

"No. I need to think." And she walked unsteadily out of the room.


	21. Beginning 7

Beginning 7

She wondered absently how it could have happened like this. She had run from home looking for answers, looking for something to fill the hole that remained after her parent's betrayal. It hadn't taken long for the thought to form. How to fill the hole left by the loss of a child It seemed obvious to a child's mind. And she was still a child, no matter how her innocence had been cast aside.

She had received no enjoyment from the action itself, the thought of the end result the only thing on her mind. Lying still and silent under the man's form as he moved above her and through her. Biting her lip until it bled. There were moments when she wondered if it was worth it

But now she was alone, and somehow that didn't seem to fit with her plans. The man hadn't stayed long enough to kiss her goodbye and it hadn't fit with any of her fairytales.

It had worked. It took her only weeks to confirm it. And now she was sick again, as she had been before, and it held some kind of strange comfort for her. There was no one here to betray her. No, this time she would see it through to the end.

The end it came sooner than she had expected. It wasn't painful as she wanted it to be, something that meant such a loss to her. There was blood but no pain and it disturbed her. Of course, there was some kind of pain. A ripping and tearing at her soul that pulled her so much closer to that whispered voice that had plagued her since that day - seeming so long ago now. It seemed only inevitable that the barrier that kept her apart from that voice would break. And it did

It was the silence that did it at first. The streets were so silent at night and in the silence there was nothing to distract her from that voice. Her soul was shattered and in pieces and no longer afforded her any protection. She was alone with the voice loud in her ears and she knew there was no way she could fight it any longer. She didn't notice her transition into a creature that thrived in the night, it was something that happened without any conscious thought. She didn't notice as her eyesight began to change or her strength build. She didn't even notice as she began to hunt, stretching skills she didn't know she had and learning new ones. As the night became a game.

It was a man who first made her realise that she had changed. He took her arm as she walked past him, tracking the smell of food. His ill intent thrummed through her as his heartbeat that she could hear so loud in her ears. She didn't notice him at first, pulling at her arm as if it were merely being disobedient. Turning to look she followed the hand that had her arm up to a body and then a face. She opened her mouth to tell him to release her and found the voice talking for her, pushing out a stream of incomprehensible syllables that sounded more animal than human. His eyes had widened at this and he had taken her arm tighter. She hadn't liked this, and had pulled away, swinging out with her other arm. Perhaps she had misjudged the power with which she had swung. Perhaps there was anger in that swing that she had been waiting to release. Perhaps she had wanted to kill that man.

What ever it had been, he fell to the ground and did not move again, his angry heartbeat stilled. That day the voice had become Shalimar. She released the last hint of humanity that she had been clinging to and fled.


	22. End 8

End 8

It was midday when the beeper went off in Adrian's office to say that another car had just parked in the private car park. Almost the whole family were crammed into that small space, organising the events for the next few days, so they all trouped out into the hall to greet Tammy and her father as they arrived.

Megan and her friends had vacated the platform and the only noise in the main hall was the sound of the waterfalls and moving water and the occasional echo of speech or laughter from the rooms around it.

When Tammy looked around the door alone, worry in her eyes, Sandra and Adrian moved towards her instinctually. Tammy bit her lip and glanced meaningfully at the others who stood around the room.

"We won't be a minute guys. We're just going to help Tammy with the bags." Sandra said. She was glad when no one seemed to make a fuss, though Liz gave her a questioning look. She followed Tammy and Adrian into the garage quickly.

"He made it all this was without so much as a flicker. He lost it as soon as he was sure he was safe and out of site." Tammy explained quickly as she led them towards her car.

"How bad is it?" Adrian asked.

"The worst I've seen him. Either it's built up because he's been keeping it under control on the way down or he's been hiding things from me." They rounded a corner to find an elderly man lying on the floor beside the car, breathing shallowly, eyes unfocused. Sandra barely recognised her Uncle - not having seen him for several years. He was thinner than she remembered him and grey hair had become white and thinning. He looked old.

Tammy was at his shoulder as he gasped in pain and almost imperceptibly wavered. Then he cried out and it was almost as if someone had dragged him through a fine net. He scattered, thinning until it was possible to see right through him. As he breathed back in he re-condensed and just as suddenly bright lines scored across his body like lightening. With a shudder he was back to normal, only for the process to repeat itself. This happened several times before his breathing started to become a little more regular. His edges fuzzed for a moment, but he seemed to swallow it back. He seemed to be aware of his surroundings as his eyes focused and he took hold of Tammy's hand. Moving to help they got him into an upright position. He coughed for a moment and then sighed.

"Sorry about that everyone. Hello Sandra, it's been a while. How are the little ones?"

"Oh, they're not so little any more." She laughed. And just like that it was business as usual. Only Tammy and Adrian's hands at his elbows as they walked out of the garage betrayed that there was anything wrong and he shook them off before he stepped through the door.

Straight away he was in there meeting and greeting, cracking jokes about how Adrian insisted on checking even his father's bags and passport, fussing over Shazné. No one could tell he was dying, like every other Mutant left alive in the harsh and hostile world. He must have seen Sandra's look because he looked back and winked.

A silent reassurance.

Think happy thoughts.

Jesse Kilmartin.

Illusionist extraordinaire.

Sandra took a seat beside Tammy as she joined them in the bar. Adrian sighed quietly and she offered him a reassuring smile, knowing that there was nothing that she could say to make this any easier for him. She had been in his position, her last remaining parent pulled apart by an illness that was wiping out her people that were already endangered by the prejudice of the world as a whole. Of course her mother had been pulled apart in a much less physical sense than her Uncle.

She had known that moving back to Sanctuary, changed though it was, would be the last thing she did. In some ways Sandra had known it too and had nearly given up everything to move back with her. It had only been her quiet acceptance and the time they had spent together before she had left, discussing what she wanted to happen at the end in such a peaceful way, that made Sandra see that this wasn't something that her mother was running from, rather she embraced it. The illness had plagued her for so long, death was a release. And she wanted to die where she felt safest.

"How's planning going?" Tammy asked as their drinks were delivered, breaking the peaceful silence that had settled between them.

"We haven't really had time to discuss much. I've been busy." Adrian supplied.

"I have a list of names we have to get in contact with, the cemetery's all ready, flowers and everything like that are ordered and the date is set." Sandra added with a smile. "It's going to take a while to get hold of everyone that we want there."

"I'll help you with phone calls tomorrow." Tammy offered and Sandra thanked her with a nod. "On the matter of Dad"

"Do you think he can hold it all the way through the ceremony?" Adrian asked bluntly.

"Until this afternoon I would have said yes. All I can say is that I can offer to load him up on Mentoline on the day, but I don't think he'll accept. He wants to make a speech." Mentoline. Sandra screwed her nose up. It was the only drug that worked to ease the symptoms of the illness, but its side affects were almost as bad in themselves. Debilitating weakness was the main one. Her mother had taken the drug for a week and then refused to take it ever again, only resorting to it on the long flight back to Sanctuary for her own safety. God knows what might happen if the passengers realised that they were trapped with a mutant on board.

"Do you know what he plans to talk about?" Sandra asked, thinking about what Adrian had said.

"He's going to talk about her. That's all I know. He's been digging out old journals he hasn't touched for years. I can only think he's going to talk about their past. I don't think he's stupid enough to say anything about you know."

"Yeah." Sandra agreed, still anxious.

"Do you want us to find a way to keep your kids away?" Tammy asked, Sandra's worry reflected in her eyes.

"I don't think that's going to be possible." Sandra sighed. "I'm a little worried about having Sarah and Daniel there though. I don't know what they'll think when they find out their partners are partly" All conversation ceased as a girl came over to offer them new drinks to replace the empty cups on their table. Tammy refused and stood.

"I need to get some sleep guys, motel beds are not the best for a good rest. I'll talk to you tomorrow, OK? And we'll think of something Sand." She rested her hand on Sandra's shoulder for a moment. "Don't worry yourself about this." Sandra nodded and they both watched as the youngest of the three made her way out of the room.


	23. Middle 8

Middle 8

When Brennan entered the room there was a solid silence, like that which is heard after a roll of thunder. The emotions of the argument still hung heavy in the air and Shalimar still sat as Emma had left her, head bowed and tears pressing at her eyes for release.

"Shalimar?" He asked as he walked across the room towards her, not knowing of the world-shaking event that had taken place. "Are you OK?"

She jumped as his weight bowed the sofa beside her, not having heard his question. Sparing him barely a glance she turned back to examining the floor.

"Emma's Emma is" She stopped. What was Emma going to do? Would she leave her simply because she couldn't promise? Was she thinking things over only to return with an ultimatum that Shalimar wouldn't be able to fulfil?

"Emma is?" Brennan prompted. "Have you two been fighting?" He asked when she offered no completion to the sentence, astonishment in his voice. Shalimar nodded dumbly in reply. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Emma's going to leave me." She sobbed.

"What!?" He laughed. "You have to be kidding. Emma wouldn't leave you. You're too good together."

"Explain that to her." She retorted, pulling her knees up to her chin protectively.

"Why?" Brennan asked softly. "What's this about?"

"Children." She laughed softly. "It sounds like such a normal thing to be arguing about, you know. The kind of thing you'd take to the marriage guidance councillor. How did this get so messed up?" Knowing a rhetorical question when he saw one, Brennan stayed quiet. "I think it must be a feral thing - needing to breed like animals." She spat the word animals as if it were dirty. "Which is pretty fucked up because we can't even if we want to. And just because of the way I got put together my whole life is fucked six ways to Sunday and I" She stopped, her anger exhausted. "I don't know what to do."

"Shalimar" Brennan began, but she interrupted him by jumping back up from her seat.

"No. No, I do know what to do! Why am I being such an idiot!" And with that comment she left Brennan alone on the couch. He looked around and nodded to himself.

"OK then."

"Emma?"

"Shalimar, I need some time to think." Emma replied harshly, her voice betraying her tears through the door that was shut tight.

"Emma, I have to talk to you." The door opened slowly and Emma appeared, framed in the soft glow of the lamp in her room, leaving her face in darkness.

"What do we have left to talk about? I think everything's been said that needs to be." Shalimar flinched at her cold tone.

"Emma, you can help me through this if we do it together. I can't promise that I won't think about it, but with your help I can stop myself doing anything stupid."

"I can't be there for you forever, Shal. What if I'm not there when something happens, when you decide you need to"

"I can TRY, Emma. I just want the chance to try. I don't want to lose you. Not over something like this. It's not right. I'd give up everything to keep you."

"Shal, I can't" Shalimar closed her eyes, not wanting to face what was to come. Was this it? Was this Emma's decision? When Emma didn't continue she looked up, the uncertainty in her face was enough to make her speak out.

"Emma, please think about this. All I need is"

"Shalimar." Emma held up a hand, stopping her. "I can't" She continued haltingly, "I can't hold you from this, Shalimar. This is too much of an opportunity for you. I don't know why I was so angry about it. I guess I'm just worried about you. You took the the last one badly. Physically and emotionally. I didn't want you to have to suffer that again. And it might sound selfish, but _I_ didn't want to have to go through that again. Once was more than enough for me." Emma's eyes met Shalimar's again, and she felt the pure and unrestrained love and joy that lay there, under the surface. "We need to go and talk to Adam." She added and suddenly she found herself lifted from the floor in the arms of her lover and twirled around in a dizzying display of Shalimar's strength.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She cried as she replaced Emma on the floor and kissed her deeply. When the kiss broke minutes later they stood for a moment. "We don't have to go to Adam straight away, you know." Shalimar suggested. Emma simply smiled.


	24. Beginning 8

Beginning 8

She had jumped onto the balcony and in through and open window, the room inside being perfect. It was warm and dark and quiet, the rain didn't reach here and she felt unquestionably safe. Someone had tried to intrude on her space once, during the morning when she was settling down to rest, stomach full for once on some stolen food she had managed to get hold of. She had chased them from her territory and they had not appeared again though she sometimes heard them in the hall outside of her room. Every night she would leap from the balcony, rejoicing in the thrill of the fall, and landing lightly to wander the streets. Finding food was getting harder. She had gone days now with little to eat and the hunt for food was becoming frantic, but she had a place that was hers and warmth. She was better off than many.

Adam picked up the phone as it rang, holding it in the crook of his neck as he treated the young man sat on the chair for the burns on his arm. His friend, the fire elemental, hovered worriedly as Adam continued his treatment.

"Kane." Adam spoke into the handset automatically. He cursed silently, he was going to have to practice not doing that if he wanted to stay undercover long enough to do any good here.

"Adam? It's Lyssa." A molecular, he remembered. She'd been given all the paraphernalia to get her out of the way of Genomex and had got a job in the neighbouring city. As a maid if he remembered rightly. "I think there's someone living in this hotel who needs your help."

"Really? Why do you think that?" He asked, curious.

"Sleeps during the day, glowing eyes, comes in and out through a third floor balcony? Sounds just like Rachel to me." Rachel had been a feline feral who had been around when Lyssa had been at Sanctuary. She had been relocated out of town too, but the two had become friends in the short time they'd known each other.

"I'll come right down. Anything I need to know?"

"She doesn't like visitors. She's in room 33, but don't bother coming after eight. She won't be there."

He drew up outside the hotel in the early morning, the light tinting the horizon and casting a red hue over the surroundings. He had arrived late the previous night, too late to try and meet this woman, and Lyssa had pointed out the window of the room he was supposed to be watching. He watched it now, knowing he was early enough to watch the woman turn up. Assuming Lyssa was right and this was a feral he was in for a fight to get her back to Sanctuary. He saw movement in the front of the hotel and watched as a lanky teenager checked her surroundings and glanced up. She took another glance around and her gaze lingered for a moment on his car, his breath caught - had she seen him? But she turned away and, without a hesitation, threw herself upwards. Catching hold of the first floor balcony, she swung herself up and over and then up to her floor, landing lightly on her balcony and slipping into the shadows of the room.

After her first confrontation with the feral - and Adam had no doubts and longer that that was what she was - Lyssa had told the manager that the room was in too bad a state for guests. It hadn't raised suspicion because all of the rooms in the hotel were pretty crumby and the manager would only do something about it when it got desperate, putting guests in rooms of any quality as long as he got paid. By taking the key Lyssa had made sure that the feral was left alone and as she was the only maid there were no worries about other staff going into the room.

Getting out of the car Adam made his way around to the back entrance of the hotel, knocking quietly and smiling as Lyssa answered.

"Right on time." She smiled. "Is she back?"

"Yes, she's just jumped it. You're right, she is feral. Nothing else could have done that."

"Isn't there anyone with you to help take her back?"

"No, I'm hoping I won't need anyone else." She sighed.

"Guess I'm here to help then."

"Thank you, Lyssa. You know how much I appreciate this."

Lyssa took a key out of her pocket as they approached the room, holding it tight to try and dampen the noise. She opened the door gently and stood aside as Adam stepped in.

The feral was stood in the middle of the room, poised to leap or attack, undecided whether she would run or fight. The man's arms went up in the air and even to her clouded mind she recognised the sign of surrender. She didn't drop her guard, waiting for the man to make the next move. The woman who she had seen before stood just out of site behind the door and that made her edgy. She could have a weapon and that made her hold her guard. The man reached out a hand and she stepped back, watching the hand for a moment. He stopped with his hand out-stretched and she wondered what he meant by it.

Curiosity took control eventually and she took his hand, paying quiet attention to the woman behind the door and careful not to drop her guard. The man stepped backwards and she followed him, still holding his hand. He took another step and she looked up at him. Reaching out with his other hand he touched her neck gently and all she felt was the tiniest of pricks. And the world swirled around her as she fell.

Adam gasped as he finally got a good look at the girl's face. The last photo he had received had been almost two years ago but there was no doubts that it was her, his very own godchild slumped unconscious and completely feral in his arms. When the family had contacted him, telling him what had happened, and then that she had run he hadn't known what to feel. His desperation in her situation had driven him to spend a lot of time searching for her, but looking for a young girl on the streets was like searching for hay in a hay-stack. But now she was here, and by some great chance under his protection again. And he couldn't let her go again.

Adam looked down on the still form in his arms as he carried her to his car. She was so thin that she was barely any weight in his arms. Maybe she could be the one, the one he had been looking for. He had decided that he only needed one to begin training, and a feral had always seemed the most obvious choice, being the easiest to train since only physical training would be needed. Or at least that had always been his reasoning. Looking down on this girl perhaps he had been wrong. There had been little that was human in those eyes as they had watched him, an intruder in her space. Perhaps this would be more difficult than he had expected. He stroked a stray hair back from her forehead as she stirred, marvelling at her ability to metabolise the drug so quickly. Getting back into the car he drove to Sanctuary quickly, not looking forward to the task ahead.


	25. End 9

AN: Hey peeps. I'm headed off to uni this week and so it's likely I won't be updating for a while. I'd still love your reviews and I'll get to work on the next chapters as soon as I have a spare moment. To apologise, a bumper edition complete with photograph! :D

End 9

"Your mum told me how much this place had changed." Sandra looked up as Jesse appeared in the doorway. "But I think she was exaggerating. I can still see the old place under all of these new rooms and décor." She smiled as he took a seat beside her. "Your grandchild is a sweet thing." He laughed. "And almost as hyperactive as you were at that age."  
"I hadn't seen her for a while, before all of this happened. She's grown a lot in the last few months." Sandra smiled. "It's hard on her parents, though, being apart so often."

"She doesn't say much though." Jesse mused, watching Sandra carefully.

"No, she's been slow to speak." Sandra agreed. "But it'll come. She's doing all of the more interesting things first. Running, exploring, watching, listening." She smiled. "She's very much like you were when you were young, you know. Have you considered"

"No." Sandra snapped, and regretted her tone immediately. "She's safe for now. The moment we start bringing attention to it things are going to get harder for her. It's four generations past, Jesse. Even if she has inherited something, it's not going to be strong enough to show up. She should still be able to lead a normal life." Jesse sighed.

"Don't underestimate it, Sandra. Adam said it more than once, your parents were some of the strongest of their kind that he knew. I wouldn't be surprised if it had the ability to show itself, full strength, even after so long." Sandra put her head in her hands and he pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry, but you have to be careful."

"Kelly never showed any signs" Her words were quiet whispers. "Liz and David but never Kelly. I thought Shazné could be safe."

"Liz and David both showed"

"Yes. From a very early age. David was like Mum, but Liz was like me, inheriting from the other side of the family."

"Liz, who was your grandfather?" Sarah asked as her girlfriend appeared from the shower, hair still wet. Liz sat on the end of the bed, thinking about her question.

"He died when mum was very young, or maybe before she was born, I'm not sure. I've never really heard much about him. Mum didn't know him, so she can't talk about him and I never got up the courage to ask gramma. It didn't seem right, you know?" Sarah nodded seriously, eyes on the computer that rested on her lap.

"This is probably a fluke." She said, almost to herself.

"What is?" Liz asked, moving so that she could see the screen. Displayed there was a black and white picture of her mother, she looked a little closer. "Where did you get that picture? It looks like mum, but it looks wrong some how." Sarah flicked the window closed and behind it were two of the black and whites that Sarah had borrowed. One of the blond that Sarah had said looked like her and another of the red-head that they had seen in the other photo. Liz frowned. Sarah opened the picture again and made it smaller so that Liz could see all three at once. She gasped.

"You're suggesting"

"I'm not suggesting anything. Maybe she has a brother. Maybe it's a fluke or coincidence."

"But that's mum. No doubt. I can't believe how much that looks like her. You sure you haven't got the pictures mixed up."

"Look at them Liz. You can see their faces in hers."

"But how? That's impossible."

"I have no idea"

AN2: This is where this whole fic started. A little bit of morph art.

Meet Sandra (if there is no link here, go to the geocities site oncas_dreams and add forward slash sandraframed.jpg to the url). If anyone has quicktime or morph and wants a look at the morph movie, yell and I'll email it to you.


	26. Middle 9

Middle 9

Adam smiled as the two appeared in the doorway to his lab, laughing and joking together.

"I take it you've come to a conclusion." He asked, humour in his voice.

"Yup." Emma responded bouncily, taking a seat. Adam wondered absently if Shalimar was wearing off on her.

"We're going to do it!" Shalimar added. She didn't take a seat, instead leaning on Emma and wrapping her arms around her torso, appearing to Adam as a single being with two heads and four arms, both faces grinning at him maniacally. He shook off the disturbing image.

"OK then. Now we get down to the difficult stuff. There are a lot of things you need to know before we go ahead with this."

"Can I ask a question?" Adam looked up at Shalimar.

"Of course." Adam didn't miss the glance that Shalimar shared with Emma, or the reassurance that was in the reply.

"We wanted to know if it was possible to make sure the baby doesn't have our mutations." Adam sighed.

"No."

"No?"

"No, it's not possible. The procedure uses some of the gene manipulation that causes mutation. I'm very sorry, but in that respect there is nothing I can do. The mutation is feral and I'm hoping that because you are already feral, Shalimar, I won't have to do much to change the basis of what I'm working on. It isn't a complete feral mutation, only a partial one. Depending on the child we can see how much she is affected by the mutation and compensate. I don't want to have to remove the psionic genes," This at Emma. "Because I don't think they will be active, and I don't want to have to change more than I have to." They shared a smile and turned back to Adam.

"That's kind of what we expected." Emma admitted. "But we had to ask." Shalimar took a seat.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's OK. You wanted to say some things?"

"That was one of them." He smiled. "The other relates to what's going to happen during the pregnancy. I explained that it was a higher than normal strain on the body? Mostly this is because of the speed at which the foetus develops. The feral genes cause this speed and your own feral genes will help you provide the energy for this process. It will mean you'll be more tired than usual, more easily worn out. You'll have to be careful. After three months you're coming off the team, no matter how fine you feel. It may have to be before that, we'll see how things progress. You're going to get dizzy spells, you're going to be uncoordinated. Morning sickness will be twice as bad for you as for anyone else, but you can take reassurance in the fact that at about five or six months you're going to be due. She will be premature and she will be very weak to start with, but she'll have all of genetics on her side."

"You keep calling it a her." Shalimar mentioned.

"The genetics of the whole thing means that's the only way it can be. There's nowhere for the Y chromosome to come from." Shalimar nodded.

"How dangerous is it for Shalimar?" Emma asked. Shalimar took her hand across the gap between their chairs, pulling them closer together across the small distance.

"Quite. This is an untried procedure. It's been done once before, but under different circumstances and was unsuccessful then. As far as I'm concerned I have all of the information I need to make this work successfully. The question is whether or not nature is going to give in that easily."


	27. Beginning 9

Beginning 9

AN: I'm trying to fit what is potentially a whole story into a chapter here. It's done in a series of short snippets. I'm not sure how it will come out, but this is a fic for experimentation. Forgive me any abbreviation in the story as a whole.

SPOILER WARNING: BLOODY HUGE Ex marks the spot spoilers. If you haven't seen it then there might be some confusion, but I've tried to put in enough information to make it understandable.

Two years it had taken him. Two years to take that twisted and troubled feral soul and turn it back into something resembling a human teenaged girl. And now she was leaving, his plans for the great team of mutants falling through with her decision to return to the world. At eighteen there was nothing he could do to stop her, her life was her own. He smiled as he watched that young woman walk sedately across the room (though it was obvious to him that there was a tense energy in that walk that could never be completely quashed). She smiled and placed her bag down beside her feet. Grabbing hold of his collar she pulled him down so that he was at the right to kiss both of his cheeks.

"I'll see you around OK?" She laughed as he blushed.

"You'll check in? And keep in touch? And you have my number if you need anything, or if anything goes wrong"

"Adam." Shalimar smiled. "I'm going to be OK."

Zack Lockheart.

Something had drawn her to him, and him to her.

And now they were in a right mess.

It had been her actions that had drawn his attention to the young thief on the streets he called his home. He had watched her curiously at first, wandering through the crowds almost aimlessly, a hood concealing her face and baggy oversized clothes covering her form. He could tell it was a girl only from the way she walked and the way she held herself. He had to take a second look as a man she had brushed past mere seconds before span on his heel realising that he was missing his wallet.

He caught hold of her as she walked past him for the third time and had only a moment to look at her closely before he found himself taking a closer look at the ground beneath him. He coughed as he tried to draw oxygen back into his lungs, gasping 'wait' as she ran off into an alley. He smirked as he stood and brushed himself off. He still knew these streets better than anyone, the alleyway she'd gone down was a dead end. He followed her.

But she wasn't there.

It was a dead end, he could see it with his own eyes. And she had definitely run down this way. But she wasn't anywhere to be seen. There were no doors, no emergency exits, no fire ladders. She had just disappeared.

He jumped as there was the softest of thuds beside him. Looking down he found his wallet there, completely emptied of cash. He hadn't even noticed it was missing. He looked up and there was the quickest flash of gold on the rooftop and it was gone.

It was two weeks later when she saw him again, leaving a scene in quite a hurry. She relieved him of a bag of money as he checked over his shoulder for followers. He grabbed hold of her wrist as she went to run and pulled her into another alley. She growled softly and he held out one hand.

"Ah." He warned. "I learned my lesson last time OK? I'm not going to fight with you."

"Let go." It was more a growl than words, but he got the gist and released her arm. He noticed that the bag she had taken from him had disappeared and he wondered if she had dropped it or concealed it in her clothes.

"Where'd the bag go?"

"Why should I tell you?" She demanded.

"So you still have it, huh? That's good. Is it in your jacket?" She looked at him curiously, before performing a slight-of-hand that made the bag appear in her hands and disappear again without any disturbance to her clothes. "You're good, how would you like to earn some decent money?"

He faced her apartment, amazed. He had struck gold with this girl.  
"My fairy godfather." She explained, laughing.

"And does your fairy godfather know that you're a pickpocket?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"I don't have to be." She replied, pouting. "I have a job. I just do it for practice." If possible his eyebrow went higher, almost disappearing into his hairline.

"Practice!?"

They spent two months working together before he made a move on her. It was after an adrenaline-filled escape from the authorities and she saw the look in his eyes as they walked through the door of her flat. There was something feral in his eyes that scared her, though only for a moment before it was hidden behind the glaze of charm that she had come to expect from him. She knew of his mutant power as he knew of hers, experience garnered from watching each other work. He laughed sometimes at the feral anger he saw in her eyes or the un-harnessed joyful energy that was there when they succeeded in their newest scheme. But that feral being didn't belong in his eyes and it frightened her.

"'A week,' he says, 'You'll be fine' he says. Didn't think to perhaps mention the shit in my freezer did he? Didn't tell me to expect the police. Didn't tell me about the job gone wrong. No good, double dealing, bastard asshole." She muttered to herself, kicking at the wall as the phone rang on, unanswered. The number he had given her to contact him in an emergency as useless as the man himself. A guard appeared beside her.

"Your time's up." He said gruffly, leering at her as he took the handset from her and placed it back on the phone screwed onto the wall.

"He hasn't answered. Can I make another call?" The guard laughed at her.

"Not my problem missy. Now you just come with me."

Shalimar looked up groggily at the guard who stood at her door. Having only just dropped off to sleep with the noise of hundred of people around her and an uncomfortable mattress beneath her she grumbled at the disturbance and rolled over. The last week had been hell for her, nearly no sleep in the noise of this place and terrible food and worse company. What made it nearly unbearable was the knowledge that the walls around her could be easily jumped. She only remained with the instinctual knowledge that being discovered as a mutant could only be worse for her than what she was living with at the moment.

The guard, persistent, rattled on the bars of her cell making her flinch as the noise resonated in her ears. She sat up to face him.

"WHAT?"

"You've been cleared. You're out of here."

"Cleared?"

"There was witnesses that say it was a guy who pulled off the job. You, darlin', are not a guy. Now get the hell out of my cell before I shut you back in there for the hell of it." Shalimar didn't hesitate to follow his instruction, collecting her possessions - not complaining about the lightening of her purse - and leaving as quickly as possible.

"Shalimar. You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice." She laughed.

"Probably about as glad as I am to hear yours Adam." She flopped into her sofa with the phone tucked into her shoulder, marvelling in the softness and struggling to stop herself from falling asleep where she sat, in the peace and quiet of her own home.

"Where have you been? The landlord said he hadn't seen you for a week and the police had been around and you didn't check in. I was"

"Adam." She halted his stream of worried words. "It's a long story. And I think I've changed my mind. Can I come back?" Adam sighed quietly.

"I'm so glad. Where can I pick you up?"

"I need to pick someone up before we go back to Sanctuary." Adam explained as he turned the car. "A young man that might be moving into Sanctuary with us." There was a moment's insecurity in her eyes that Adam didn't fail to miss. "I'm sure you'll get along. He's been having some problems controlling his powers, I might need your help to train him." The thought of having a young person to train as she had been trained appealed to her so she consented. Walking behind Adam as he approached the cluster of people, she watched as a young teen, gangly in the height without build that the teen years bring, was hugged tightly by both of his parents and then pushed away almost angrily to walk alone towards Adam. Meeting him half way as if the parents were reluctant to come in contact with Adam. Feeling she should be doing something Shalimar picked up one of the bags from the pile as Adam shook the hand of the boy and led him back towards the car.

They drove in silence that filled the space like invisible walls. Shalimar sat with the boy in the back seat and watched the scenery flash by out of the window. An almost inaudible sigh pulled her attention back to the boy.

"So." She said, the word sounding odd as it broke through the barriers of the silence. "What's your name?" She asked, feigning ignorance though Adam had told her his name only hours ago.

"Jesse." The response was almost a whisper, his eyes wide as if surprised at the attention. Shalimar flinched internally. This kid was used to not being seen. She swore to herself that she would make him visible.

"Nice to meet you."


	28. End 10

End 10

AN: Sorry it took so long. My muse objected to the re-location. This is all a bit disjointed, but it just didn't want to flow prettily. Hopefully things will improve. 

__

It was dark and Sandra's view was somehow distorted, as if she were looking at everything from low down. There was a crackle of light and a muted cheer and the lights reappeared more steadily. They were harsh electrical lights that made her flinch with their intensity. A moment later they dulled slightly to a soft blue colour. It was raining outside - the lights illuminated the drops as they dashed past the open door and the noise of the falling water was almost a waterfall as the torrents hit the ground. A small boy sat beside her, gripping the sides of his seat with wide-eyed fear, his knuckles pale. They sat on fold out chairs on the sides of the room they seemed to be in, closer to the still-open door than the more permanent-looking seats and panels that took up the other end of the room. There were two other people in the room, the one who had been under one of the panels - fixing something? - and one who sat on the chair nearest to them, seemingly typing something into a computer. Their faces had the strangely hazed quality that dreamscapes sometimes bring, but she saw as the man at the front got up from underneath the panel and took a seat in the foremost chair. Suddenly the picture resolved a little and, though the faces were still hidden from her, she saw the buttons and switches that the newly seated man was touching and the form the room around her took. It was a craft, she knew. And this was knowledge, not recognition. The woman turned to face her and though she couldn't make out the features of her face she was reassured and the boy beside her responded to the unseen gesture too, relaxing his death-grip on the chair marginally.

A face appeared in the rain, framed by the blue-lit droplets.

"Emma? Where is she!?" The new form shouted, the voice confirming it as male above the roar of the rain. Something in her heart fluttered. Mum why wasn't she here? She should be here.

"I thought she was with you!" Anger from the front of the craft.

"She must have gone back." The woman stood, revealing that she was heavily pregnant.

"I'll get her." The voice from outside called again. "We'll follow you in one of the cars. GO!" He disappeared.

They would never see him again after that terrible night, a cold knowledge settled over her heart.

The man at the controls hesitated for a moment before hitting the buttons to shut the door. With much shaking and groaning from the walls around them, the double helix struggled into the air.

The double helix where did that come from? The question, though subconscious, was enough to pull Sandra from her dreams and into the world of the waking. She tried to grasp at the dream as she surfaced, trying to fill in details, trying to continue the story that her mind created, but she felt it drag away from her and she opened her eyes. The sight of a strange ceiling above her momentarily disorientated her but further exploration revealed the neat hotel room that she had been allocated in Sanctuary. David's bed was empty and his scattered pyjamas told her that he had already made his way out into the world. Shaking her head to try and shift the strange feeling that there was something missing, Sandra got quickly out of bed and headed out into the main hall.

She was surprised to find that she had slept late, she was normally up long before anyone else, but this morning Sanctuary was full of the bustle that late morning brings to those on holiday. As the morning rush faded, Sandra sat alone in the breakfast room, thinking of her dream. Something big had happened that night - and she had no doubts that it had been a memory and not something her mind had made up as entertainment - but she didn't know what it was or why it was so important.

__

"We'll follow you in one of the cars..."

Where had they been going? Where were they planning on meeting him? Why hadn't he ever got to that meeting place with her mother? Why the big rush? Were they being attacked? Were they running from something?

Sandra remembered little of her childhood, memories lost in the blur of time, the fantastic and the real combining and contrasting - her life had been so full of both. At school she had learned not to talk of her unusual family. Learned not to object when Jesse claimed to be her father, even when she knew she had none. Why had this memory surfaced now?

"Mum?" Sandra looked up, jumping a little as her young daughter called her name. She met her eyes and frowned at the worry she saw mirrored there.

"What is it, are you ok?" She asked, wondering at her expression.

"I'm fine. How about you?" Liz replied, offering her a tissue. Sandra looked at the proffered object for a moment before realising that, in her daze, her grip on her cup had relaxed and a puddle of coffee was forming on the floor between her feet. She swore.

"I'm so out of it at the moment." She laughed, placing the cup carefully on the side and taking the tissue. "Anyway, what was it that you wanted, love?"

"I was wondering if you'd tell me about Grandad."

"Grandad?" Sandra asked, still lost in the past and momentarily confused. "Oh, right."

"I mean, we've never really talked about him before. I don't even know his name."

"You know. he died when I was young?" Liz nodded attentively. "Well, I don't really know much," Sandra continued, trying not to hesitate with every pronoun. "Mum had to bring me up on her own, with the help of Uncle Jesse and his wife. Adrian and Tammy were like brother and sister to me."

"Yes, I know." Liz interrupted impatiently. "But what about Grandad?"

"Well" Sandra searched her mind for something, anything she could say, "I know"

"Sandra." Sandra looked up at Jesse's call from across the room, grateful for the distraction, any distraction.

"What is it?" She asked, standing as he hurried towards her.

"It's Megan."


	29. Middle 10

Middle 10

Shalimar flinched as another wave of nausea flooded over her, leaving her moaning as she pressed her forehead against the cold tiles. She wondered if it was worse this time or the same, and the memories had faded from before, taking away their pain. Not having the energy to get back up after the nausea had passed, she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, enjoying the brief respite.

A hand on her shoulder brought her back to herself, opening her eyes to find Emma's looking back at her.

"Why didn't you wake me?" She asked, tone scolding.

"You looked so peaceful." She smiled, thinking of her sleeping lover in the moments that she had savoured before she had been forced to run for the bathroom. She moaned as her stomach turned again and she forced her eyes closed against the spinning room.

"I want to be here for you, Shal. Don't leave me in the dark about things like this." Emma's arm around her shoulders offered her world a little stability and she slowly sat back upright, leaning into Emma's chest and taking comfort in her warmth.

"I wasn't going to"

"Would you have told me?" Emma interrupted. "Would you have told me if I hadn't woken up?"

"I don't want you to worry."

"It's my job to worry, Shal. You deal with it and I worry about you, it's the way it goes." Shalimar laughed briefly, and then stopped as her stomach responded, cramping and pulling her in on herself painfully. "Sorry." Emma winced.

"No, don't be. I'll be ok in a minute." Shalimar replied breathlessly. Feeling the world calm a little more, she offered Emma her hand. "Help me up?" She asked, leaning on Emma until she felt stable. "Well that wasn't pleasant." She smiled, rinsing her mouth out from the tap and wandering back into the bedroom.

"Is that it?" Emma asked, following her.

"Until tomorrow morning. I think so." Shalimar replied, diving back underneath the covers and hiding her head.

"So what do you think? Was Adam right, is it worse?" Shalimar considered it for a moment, still beneath the covers, savouring the warmth.

"I don't think" Emma looked down at the pile of covers when Shalimar didn't continue.

"Shal?" When there was no response Emma pulled the covers back off her lover. Pain was etched across her features and Emma could feel the fear emanating from her in waves. She was curled up as if she was trying to make herself fit into the smallest space possible. Later she would forget the panicked call for Adam, Shalimar's hand around her wrist so tight it would bruise, the way Adam ran into the room, Jesse and Brennan's faces in the doorway.

It was the look in her eyes as she held her gaze, so much in that stare that it was almost a physical force boring into her. That was what she remembered of that moment that was hours long.

Emma smiled as Shalimar opened her eyes a few hours later in the lab. The immediate panic that flooded the room had Emma at her side in moments.

"It was just the sickness." She assured her. "She's still fine." The emotions lightened as Shalimar breathed out slowly.

"Hell. I don't think I can do that every morning." She laughed. Emma reached up and brushed away a lock of hair from Shalimar's forehead, letting her hand stray to the side of her face and linger there.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Good. Fine." Shalimar replied. "I guess that was what Adam meant by twice as bad, huh." She chuckled. "I wasn't expecting that." Shalimar caught hold of Emma's hand as she went to move it away, sitting up as she focused on her wrist. "Oh, Emma, I didn't do this did I?" Emma glanced down at the soft yellow bruises that were appearing there.

"I hadn't noticed." She laughed the injury off. "Shared pain. Hey, did you ever hear that joke about the machine that they invented" As Emma continued to tell Shalimar the obtuse joke, revelling in the temporary light that filled her face. Neither of them were to know that things were going to get much, much worse before long.


	30. Beginning 10

Beginning 10

He was quiet at first. He had no part in their conversations and only appeared when called, standing meekly to attention. For a while Shalimar wondered if perhaps he had always been so introverted. If he truly didn't want to be there with them. But she didn't stop trying as she took on the role of his tutor in fighting skills, lessons for which he attended reluctantly, standing silent and scowling as he watched her demonstration, less than enthusiastic in his own attempts.

It was a month after he had arrived at Sanctuary when she first saw the side of Jesse Kilmartin that she would love forever.

Morning sickness had struck hard that morning and, though she had been expecting it, it didn't make it any easier as she sat shaking on the cold tiles of the bathroom, waiting for her stomach to realise that the room wasn't moving around her. She jumped as a glass was placed on the floor by her hand and a cold flannel made its way to her brow.

"I locked the door, you know." She whispered with a small smile.

"I'm sorry, I'll go." She caught his arm as he went to leave.

"NO!" She looked down, abashed. "No, stay, please?" With his own smile he took a seat beside her self-consciously, helping her lift the glass with shaking hands and holding her as she cried a little.

That day Adam watched, curious, as Jesse, triumphant, pinned Shalimar to the floor. Both laughing more that he had ever seen either or them laugh. And he smiled. Because this is what he had wanted.

Two months, longer than ever before, and still there was no sign that this would end like the others. She was jubilant and Jesse celebrated with her, so caught up in her joy and energy he forgot to hide himself away from the pain he knew that love could cause, and he became part of their family. Loved and loving in equal amounts.

When he found Shalimar later that same month, with her knees tucked into her chest and her face so blank and empty of emotion, he felt something within him break for her. Lost again, although he could not know that it was for a third time. And he sat beside her again, and as she cried he held her close, her tears fire-hot rivulets down his skin. And when she became angry he took every punch she threw, not caring about the bruises, only wishing that the emptiness that he saw in her eyes would go. Would be relieved by something - anything.

Anything


	31. End 11

End 11

AN: Sorry for the slow update, but I've been having a lot of problems with the beginning of this one - ie I HATE IT SO MUCH!!! But it fits, and had been planned from the start, it's just unfortunate that I really don't like what I've written and so it's all a bit shitty. Review anyway, if only just to tell me what an idiot I am for writing that chapter. Thanks

"It's Megan." Sandra turned to Liz at the older man's outburst.

"Go get your brother and set off the fire alarms." Liz looked at her, confused.

"Mum, what's going on?"

"I'll explain later, OK? Just do it. Tell everyone there was a small fire and that we're dealing with it. Make sure no one comes back into the building." Seeing the worry in her eyes, Liz simply nodded and headed for the gaming room, hitting the nearest fire alarm as she went past. A sudden clamour of noise heralded the activation of the alarm and people began flooding out of rooms. "Take me to her?" Sandra asked.

"Of course." Jesse said. "The others?"

"Will be there as soon as they hear the alarm." Sandra supplied. Jesse nodded and led her down the hall.

Megan's room was decorated in soft blues and full of candle smoke and incense. Every surface showed signs of her inhabitancy. The closer she got to Megan herself, the more sure she was that she could hear hundreds of voices over the fire alarm, all talking and shouting and whispering at once in some way that she heard without it ever entering her ears. The spill-over of Megan's power, she realised. As the telepath faded her control was lapsing. She was projecting all of the thoughts she was receiving. Jesse walked determinedly to Megan's side, placing a hand on her shoulder as she thrashed about in the bed. Sandra saw him flinch as he touched her and knew that it could only be amplifying the effect for him. Tammy arrived first, and then Kelly with Daniel in tow. Adrian took a few more minutes to arrive, explaining that he had made sure that all of the visitors and staff had got out of the building and were at a sensible distance. He then took up position opposite Jesse and placed his hand on Megan's other shoulder. She looked up at him for a moment, as though asking for something.

"It's time." She whispered, her voice echoing with those of a million others.

"Everyone is safe Megan. You are safe." She nodded.

"Thank you." She turned to Jesse. "Thank you, for my life in the beginning. I wish I could have fought for you, protected you for longer."

"Thank you, Megan. For thinking to protect us in the first place." She smiled, and then with a sharp intake of air she died. And in the soft exhalation were innumerable thoughts, words, and insecurities. A world of the human mind escaped in that single sound, hardly a whisper to the ears. Jesse and Adrian cried out, Sandra found herself on her knees, Kelly in the safety of Daniel's arms, Tammy reached out for her father and didn't have the strength to get to him before the effect faded and they were released to their own thoughts once more.

Adrian stood first, followed by Jesse. Jesse turned and helped his daughter off the floor gently, holding her tight for a moment before turning back to the bed. Kelly stood with her head still buried in Daniel's shoulder, Daniel looking terribly pale. Sandra stayed kneeling until Adrian came and knelt by her side.

"Sand?" She looked up at him, eyes full of pain.

"Please tell me she didn't go like that." She asked, voice wavering.

"No Sand. I told you. She went in her sleep. She didn't know anything about it. There was no throw-back from her power." Sandra nodded, tears falling silently. Taking Adrian's hand she stood with him and they walked all together out into the empty and silent halls of Sanctuary where once, long, long ago, a telepathic child called Megan romped the quiet corridors in evasion of her minders.

"Kelly, how much do you know about your Uncle Jesse?" Kelly looked up at Daniel as she walked out of the bedroom where she had just put Shazné to bed.

"What do you mean? I know enough about him. He's not really my Uncle if that's what you mean."

"No, I mean I just" Daniel sighed. "Is he a mutant?" Kelly took a seat opposite Daniel.

"Why." She asked sharply. "What does it matter?" Daniel sighed.

"So Adrian and Tammy are too?"

"Daniel. What is this? I work for Adrian. He has been very good to me while you've been away. Giving me work and a place to live."

"No, I'm not I don't want to turn them in or anything! You didn't think that did you? I wouldn't I couldn't" Kelly shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I'm just I don't want them getting hurt. They're family, you know?"

"It's just that I heard something today, when that woman died. I think they were memories, or thoughts or something. She remembers him from when she was very young. He rescued her from some people who were chasing her. It was all very odd. But there was a woman who" He trailed off. "I'm mean, it's weird, because I'm not even sure how I saw her but"

"Who what?"

"Who looked just like your mother."


	32. Middle 11

Middle 11

Brennan threw a bolt of electricity, knowing he would miss the fleeing GSA figures, but feeling the need to try. The kid they had come to rescue was safe at least, though her psionic powers were fluctuating wildly after her confrontation with the agents. Emma was keeping an eye on her and trying to get her a little calmer while Jesse brought the helix round to them. Brennan realised that Shalimar had been chasing after the agents with him and now she wasn't beside him. Checking he saw that the agents were still running and Shalimar was nowhere to be seen.

"Jess, Shal didn't go with you did she?"

"No." Came back Jesse's succinct answer. "She stayed down there."

"Are you in the air yet?"

"Yes, I'm not far from you now. I'm going to land in the car park just round the corner, you think Emma can get the girl that far?" Brennan glanced over at where Emma sat with the young girl. "She's looking pretty calm now. She'll make it, but where's Shal?" Emma looked up.

"What do you mean 'where's Shal?' She was with you. You went after the agents." Brennan held out his hands and shrugged.

"She's not with me now, is she." Emma was on her feet.

"Well where is she? Did the GSA take her? Did she take a hit!? Why weren't you watching her!?!" Emma was stopped abruptly by Brennan clasping her shoulders.

"Emma, slow down." He lifted his comm. ring. "Shal, are you out there?" There was no response. Emma's panic stepped up a notch. "Jesse, Shal's disappeared and she's not answering her comm., can you put a search on her?" Brennan continued. 

"Sure." There was a moment's silence and then. "She's about ten yards to your right, and" More silence. "Shit, her stats are all over the place. I'm landing the helix down there." Brennan followed Emma as she dashed away and down another side alley to their right. The girl, temporarily forgotten, scampered after them as a roaring filled the skies and the helix descended ponderously, squeezing into the narrow street.

Stopping in the entrance to the alley Emma looked around her self, confused. There didn't seem to be any one there.

"Jesse, am I in the right place?" There was a pause.

"Yes, she's only a few feet to your right as you're standing now." Emma looked up as Brennan joined her.

"Do you think she's in one of the buildings?" He asked, looking around and trying to judge the distance to the wall. Emma put one hand to her mouth in shock, pointing silently with the other. Brennan looked up.

"Shit! How did she get up there?" Shalimar was laid out on her back on a shallow balcony four floors up with no obvious way up other than the way Shalimar had gone - a jump with the feral force behind it. And none of them had the ability do that to get up to her.

"I'm going up the inside." Emma said, already running for the main street where the door into the building was.

"Emma, wait. Take Jesse. You'll need to get through the doors." Brennan took another look. "I'm going to see if I can get up this way." He said, showing a ball of electrical energy formed in his hand. "I don't know if I can get the height, but I can try." Emma nodded and headed for the helix.

Taking another look at the distance Brennan took a measured step back and flexed his fingers out, his hands pointing down. The first burst of power propelled him up about two floors, but not nearly high enough to get to the prone figure. He struggled to control his descent and land lightly so as not to do himself any harm and then rubbed his hands together for the second attempt. He twisted his hands together once or twice, feeling the charge build up between them and as forcefully as he could he threw all he had at the floor, feeling the power crackle downwards towards his feet. Seeing the balcony rise up towards him Brennan risked throwing his hands upwards to catch the barrier pole. He breathed a sigh of relief as it held, knowing he wouldn't be able to control the descent from this height. His plan for taking Shalimar down himself went out the window. Moving to Shalimar's side he pulled her onto her back and did all of the checks he could remember from first aid. Her breathing was hoarse and ragged and her pulse was far from steady. She seemed to wince and pull away when he touched her left shoulder - the one she'd been resting on - though he knew she was unconscious. There was movement from behind the curtains that covered the balcony window and Emma's face appeared. A few moments later Jesse had them all inside the room and minutes later they were on their way back to Sanctuary in the helix - only stopping to pick up the unfortunate new mutant they were there for.

Shalimar blinked and squinted in the harsh lights. Her head felt heavy and it felt like someone was sitting on her chest. A face appeared, haloed in the bright lights and the red tint to the halo identified the owner.

"Hey Angel." She whispered, and then coughed roughly as her throat objected to the vibrations.

"Hush." She whispered in reply. "I'm going to get Adam. I'll be back in a minute, Ok?" She nodded carefully and slipped back into the abyss.

When she woke again it was Adam who was nearby, his hard-soled shoes loud on the floors of Sanctuary.

"Hey." He greeted when he saw her awake. "How do you feel?"

"Sore."

"That's not too surprising. Does your chest feel tight?" She nodded. "OK, I can give you something to loosen that up a little. What about your arm. How does that feel?" She thought about her arm. Her right arm felt fine if a little tingly from pins and needles, but her left arm

"It's kinda numb." She replied.

"But it's not hurting you?"

"If I can't feel it, it can't hurt. What did I do?" She asked, confused.

"I can only guess you mistimed a jump or was caught unawares by something. The guys found you unconscious on a balcony with a dislocated shoulder. Do you remember what happened?"

"I was trying to get onto the roof to get ahead of the agents we were chasing. My stomach cramped, really badly. Like fold-me-in-half badly in the middle of the jump. I caught the ledge and managed to pull myself back onto the ledge before I passed out." She replied, remembering. She smiled as Emma appeared in the doorway. "The next thing I remember I was being visited by a beautiful angel." Emma laughed.

"You scared me, Shal. Don't do that to me. I don't think my heart will take it."

"I'm sorry Shalimar," Adam continued, "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you off the team after this. It's been three months, you've had longer than I'd originally thought prudent, and this has just proved the point."

"I would object, but I just don't have the energy right now." Shalimar smiled wearily.

"And that, more than anything else, tells me that this is the right thing to do." He smiled at her and she nodded her consent.

"When you feel up to it you can go to your own room, but have at least another couple of hours in bed when you get there. I don't want you training or doing anything else strenuous for the next three days, ok? The numbness in your arm will begin to wear off in a few hours, I'll bring you some pain killers. If you need them before then, I'm sure Emma will come and get some for you." He smiled at them both and excused himself.

Jesse's face appeared in the doorway and for a moment his eyes met Shalimar's. For a moment it looked like he might come over, but a cold mask slipped into place and he walked away. Shalimar looked away, hoping that Emma hadn't noticed. She swore internally when she met Emma's eyes and saw the expression there.

"You going to tell me what that was?" Emma asked, eyes full of curiosity.

"What what was?" Emma laughed shortly.

"That, with Jesse?" Her face was stoically blank. "OK then, let's see. What's up with the fact that Jesse has been hiding in the helix through all of our missions for the last hmmm three months? Why he keeps giving you weird looks behind your back? Why he's showing the most twisted spectrum of emotions I have seen for a while."

"I've never heard you refer to it as a spectrum before." Shalimar commented.

"Don't change the subject." Emma warned. "Brennan's been keeping an eye on you, Adam couldn't pay more attention without following you around all day - and I dare say he might resort to that - but Jesse doesn't want to know. Why is that?"

"I have no idea." Shalimar said, quietly, slipping off of the medical bed and taking a moment to get her feet beneath her and in the right order. Emma seemed to think for a moment.

"No, I really want to know."

"I don't know, Emma." Shalimar replied, in a sing-song voice.

"Why was he the one to tell Adam about the miscarriages? _You_ said that, remember?"  
"What is this, the inquisition?" Shalimar snapped.

"Shal"

"NO." Emma found herself up against the wall, Shalimar's hand colliding with the wall behind her ear, a flinch of annoyance in her eyes that the other arm refused to follow through, though her eyes didn't leave Emma's. She suddenly seemed so much taller, despite the three inch difference in the wrong direction. Her eyes weren't their feral yellow, but the feral was right up there at the surface, confronting her. "Stop." She hissed. "Leave Jesse out of this. You've gone to far. You've made your point. I don't" She seemed to realise what she was doing, looking at her arm as if it didn't belong to her. She pulled herself back and turned away abruptly. "Jesse doesn't come into this." She said over her shoulder.

__

"Never again. I promise. Never again." Blue eyes smiling, congratulations. Stomach squirming. 'You liar.' Whispers her conscience.

"Jesse doesn't come into this." She turned and stalked out of the room, leaving Emma to drop to the floor as her knees buckled. She was shaking, Emma noted absently, and almost sadly she realised that she had finally seen Shalimar angry - and she had been the cause.

Jesse what had Jesse done to cause such anger in her feral? She thought carefully of the emotions that Shalimar had thrown at her through that confrontation. No, it wasn't what _Jesse_ had done

She leant her head back against the wall behind her, trying to find some clue in what had been said and felt that might help her see what had happened. A buzz at the back of her mind called her attention and she turned to face that wall, placing both hands where he head had been resting. She smiled softly. Shalimar was sat on the opposite side of the wall. Moving to the door she stepped outside and took a seat with her back against the wall opposite Shalimar, so their feet almost touched across the corridor.

The anger had drained from her face and there was nothing there now but sadness. Opening herself a little to the emotions that surrounded her love she found that the sadness went a lot deeper than just her eyes.

"Shalimar, talk to me." She pleaded. "Tell me what's going on."

"He's not going to forgive me, not after this." The words were a sigh, hardly audible.

"What did you do to need forgiving?"

"Oh, all of this I promised him something, a long time ago, and then I broke that promise and I didn't even go to him to talk about it, or tell him that I was" She trailed off and seemed to pick up her train of thought somewhere else. "I hurt him and he forgave me, and now I've hurt him again, only this time I don't think he's going to forgive me so easily, or even believe me when I say sorry."

"Have you tried to tell him?" She shook her head softly. "Well then?"

"I don't think I can."


	33. Beginning 11

Beginning 11

Jesse shuddered despite the heat of the flames that roared near-by, pushing forward even as his instincts screamed at him to run.

'Shalimar,' he remembered Adam telling him once, in the early days of his time at Sanctuary, 'is deadly afraid of fire. It's something that she can't help, it's part of her mutation. You will not force her into any situation involving fire. You will not mock her for this. Fire is her weakness, you have your own.' That had been almost six years ago, the first time Adam had really lectured to him about anything. All he had been doing was playing with a lighter, flicking it on and off in boredom. The way Shalimar had reacted he might have been juggling a grenade.

And now they were trapped in this building with an out of control pyrokinetic who they were supposed to be helping get into the underground and he didn't know where she was. There was a muffled thump from down the hall and sparks jumped out of a doorway, a small squeak was all he needed to place Shalimar in that room. He leapt forward, jumping through the doorway and skidding to a halt as something solid fell from the roof to the ground in front of his feet, throwing sparks up at him. Moving quickly around the obstacle he spotted Shalimar in the corner of the room, her back to him, seemingly protecting something with her body. He shouted across the room to her but she didn't seem to hear, her whole body shaking visibly, even from that distance. Seeing that there was no way to get to her from where he was, Jesse took a risk and phased through the wall, praying that he wasn't walking into the fire. Seeing with relief that the room he had entered was almost untouched as yet by the fire he moved along the wall to just about where Shalimar should be and stepped back into the adjacent room. After the relative coolness of the empty room, the fire was scorching on his skin and the smoke made him choke. He threw himself over Shalimar, massing as another beam fell from the ceiling and it was in that position that he first saw what Shalimar held in her arms.

It was a child, tiny in all proportions, wrapped in a blanket. Letting go of his held breath and letting himself de-mass, Jesse realised with sorrow that the baby was very still, it's skin blue and limbs limp. Shalimar didn't even seem to register his existence, looking through him as she scanned the room from exit to exit, seeing only the flames. Her breathing was so fast she looked sure to hyperventilate and she screamed shortly as Jesse took her arm.

"Shalimar, it's me." He looked round as something collapsed on the other side of the room. "Look, we have to get out of here. You need to get up." She didn't respond and, looking around Jesse sighed. There was no obvious exit that they would be able to take if Shalimar wasn't willing to move by herself. Massing solid he rammed his shoulder into the wall, feeling the whole thing shudder and seeing as some of the bricks moved a little as he stepped back. He rubbed at his shoulder, psychologically knowing it should hurt and then massed again and, pushing a little harder this time, felt as the thin dividing wall gave way and let him drop into the other room with the momentum. Stepping back through he grabbed Shalimar's arm and pulled her back through after him. He ran for the door and Shalimar was with him, running on her own, though her breathing was still shaky. He paused as they reached the unobstructed exit to the outside.

"What about the new mutant?"

"She's gone." She replied flatly. Latter they would know what it was for an elemental to lose themselves in their mutation, the energy that is the essence of a person becoming nothing but the element that they personify. Only emotion so pure and terrible that the body runs from it can prompt such a loss of control, the final mutation.

Finally outside Jesse watched as the fire fighters struggled to quench the thriving flames, knowing that when they succeeded there would be nothing left of the woman they had come here to save than loose energy.

He turned to Shalimar, finding her knelt on the floor, sobbing silently over the motionless baby in her arms. Only her shoulders gave her away.

"It was hers, wasn't it."

"She told me to keep him safe. I took him from her and" She sobbed. "Everything dies Jesse. Everything I touch. I can't help it."

"The baby's been dead for a long time, Shal. This wasn't your fault."

Jesse shivered in his thick jumper and sweatpants, still experiencing the after-effects of the mixture of heat exposure and adrenaline that were leaving him cold and shuddery. Realising that Shalimar must be feeling similar, he grabbed the blanket off of his bed and hers off her bed as he passed her room. Stepping into the lab he wondered momentarily if Shalimar was asleep, her face mostly hidden by a mask feeding her clean air to try and reverse the effects of the smoke inhalation. A pair of brown eyes appeared as he went to leave again.

"Planning on a sleepover?" She asked, shifting the mask so that she could speak around it. The weary sadness he could see in her eyes made him want to hold her and never let go. He hated knowing that there was nothing he could do to ease that pain.

"I was feeling cold, thought you might be too." Shalimar smiled, but it hardly moved past her lips.

"Yeah, thanks." She turned away and coughed roughly for a moment.

"Shalimar, put the mask back on!" Came Adam's voice from the adjoining room and they shared a guilty grin as she replaced the mask and he was relieved to see the smile start to touch her eyes. His smile widened as he realised that, even though they were both adults, they were still treating Adam like naughty children would their father. Carefully lifting the blanket over Shalimar, Jesse took a seat next to her and wrapped his own around himself, savouring the warmth. He felt his eyelids beginning to drag as he sat there, on a comfy chair dragged through from the lounge a few months previous and never returned to its rightful place. The thought hit him so hard that he shot upright and almost fell out of the chair. Shalimar turned to look at him.

"Are you OK?" She asked, voice muffled and strange behind the mask. He nodded.

"Yeah, I just Yeah, I'm fine." He sat back in the chair, not noticing Shalimar's concerned gaze, already lost once again in his own thoughts.

Why would she, he was younger than her, only a kid still - or at least that's how she treated him. Her vulnerability today had only been because of the fire. Her fear had made her weak, if only for a little while. But if he were to offer to show that he was willing willing to do what? He asked himself. Have sex with the one person in the world who was beautiful and sexy and undoubtedly the most attractive person he had ever met, and who he knew he would never have 'that' kind of relationship with? She knew everything about him, they had grown up together, they were like brother and sister. It was absurd, his cynical side told him. A stupid idea that he should put as far out of his mind as possible.

But it persisted.

"Shalimar, I've been thinking. And I thought that perhaps I might be able to I was thinking that we might be able to try for a baby for you, and that maybe with Adam's help" He trailed off. The mirror stared back at him, unyielding. "Oh for f"

"Don't swear, it doesn't suit you." Jesse couldn't have jumped higher if he'd been feral.

"SHALIMAR!" He squealed. "Don't do th" Realisation set in. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough." She nodded, before wandering back out of Jesse's room distractedly.

Shalimar lay on her bed, one hand resting across her abdomen, a familiar posture now. Jesse wondered if it stemmed from some need to know that it was still there - that tiny life within her. Whether it allowed her some reassurance. She grinned as Jesse made his presence in the doorway known, stepping into the room bearing a tray. He had gone to great lengths to get her to stay in bed - or return to bed as she had been up long before Jesse, exercising - so that he could bring her breakfast. She shuffled up so that she was sat upright and made room for Jesse on the other end of the bed.

Things had been strange over the last few months, a little surreal perhaps. But it didn't take long for normality to return with a vengeance.

"Why didn't you TELL ME!?"

"Jesse, what good would it have done?" Her voice was quiet, tired.

"I could have stopped all this, I could have saved you this"

"Don't you think it was my choice too! I wanted this, I didn't want it to turn out like this, but that's just the way it goes. The way my genes make it go."

"You didn't give me the choice. I'm involved here too, remember? This is my fault, Adam will never forgive me."

"Adam doesn't have to know."

"WHAT!?" He gaped over this for a moment. "Shalimar, you've just had a miscarriage. Surely Adam needs to know. As far as he knows, you're still up for missions."

"I am."

"Oh no, no way. Please tell me you went to him after the last time" Her face answered for her. "Did he even know you were pregnant?" He considered for a moment. "How did you know about the feral thing."

"He explained a lot of things to me, about my mutation. It was something he was very interested in - because it was a characteristic that appeared in other places naturally. He hadn't be introduced to the idea of tact back then." She smiled softly.

"You can't keep going through life like this isn't happening to you, Shalimar. You get involved with someone, you get pregnant, you have the big 'up' and then it dies and you have a down and then everything's just normal again. It's not the way to live your life Shalimar, and it'd not healthy."

"Denial is what our people are about Jesse. We fit in because we hide everything that matters to us."

"Not this, Shal. This isn't something to hide away!"

"For however long it lasts I feel good about myself Jesse. I think there's perhaps something good in my future, something that'll be there after I die other than Genomex files and Proxy Blue suspicion."

"Maybe you'll have your child one day Shalimar, but not today, and not like this. Not taking what you like from some random guy and having it for yourself. It has to be a sharing, it has to be someone you love and will love forever. This isn't the kind of thing you do like it means nothing." She looked down. "Promise me you won't do it again, Shal. Promise you won't get yourself back into this." Blue eyes met brown, both full of emotions and innocence.

"Never again. I promise. Never again." Blue eyes smiled, congratulations. Her stomach squirmed. 'You liar.' Her conscience whispered to her. 'You liar.'


	34. THE BEGINNING OF THE END

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

"Adam, I just want to get out of Sanctuary. Go shopping, do _something_, ANYTHING. I'm going crackers here." Adam sighed as he looked up at Shalimar, round in her fifth month and as energetic as ever.

"You're supposed to be tired, you know. It was one of the symptoms you were supposed to expect." She laughed.

"I had way too much energy in the first place, now I just feel good." She leant her chin on his shoulder as he turned back to the computer. "But BORED." She said, pointedly. He laughed.

"Two hours, no longer, OK? And someone's going with you."

"Of course, thank you!"

The town was bustling with summer business. Children newly freed from schools on their holidays scampered around jovially and parents pretended not to see their antics, caught up in their children's joy in the weather and freedom and not truly wanting to spoil their fun. Emma and Shalimar made their way through the crowds slowly, enjoying the chance to be together out of Sanctuary. They had no destination in mind, simply walking the streets and looking in windows as they passed. Occasionally something would catch one of their eyes and they would step into a cool shop, out of the noise and bright sunlight. An hour had been whiled away simply walking around when Shalimar announced that she needed to sit down or her ankles were going to give way. Taking a table outside a sweet little coffee shop they spent a moment simply absorbing the movement and light around them while they waited for a waiter. Eventually a young man appeared, looking very hassled. Taking their order he explained with profuse apologies that they would have quite a wait for their food as there were so many people around during the holiday. Looking around them as they were left alone, Emma spotted a shop that reminded her of her goal for the day. A birthday present for Shalimar. Her birthday was only a few weeks away and Emma had been so caught up with her responsibilities with Mutant X and being around to offer Shalimar her support when she needed it that she hadn't got around to buying her a present. Excusing herself for a moment, Emma left Shalimar with a kiss and wandered over to the tiny jewellers.

It took her only moments to find what she wanted and she re-emerge into the sunlight squinting slightly as she tucked the small jewellery box into her bag where she knew Shalimar wouldn't find it. Knowing the bottomless nature of most of her bags, it was possible that she wouldn't find it again herself. Coming back into view of the café Emma saw a group of people forming in the courtyard outside the coffee shop. Legs shifted and she caught a glimpse of someone lying on the ground. One man split away from the crowd and ran for one of the public phone booths on the corner. Emma's breath caught.

"No." She was walking, jogging, running towards them. "NO!" Pushing through the people she fell to her knees at Shalimar's side, taking hold of her hand. "No, no Shal. You can't do this to me." Shalimar's eyes were closed, her skin pale against the deeply red shirt. Pain creased her forehead though she didn't seem to be conscious. "Shalimar, you're scaring me. You need to open your eyes now. Come on, baby, show me you're OK, please?" She shrugged off a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back and suddenly she was looking up into Jesse's eyes and Adam was at Shalimar's side.

"She called us out." Jesse explained. Looking to Adam for an explanation she found him frowning deeply. Adam met her eyes and her world fell apart.

AN: The song 'No Way Out' belongs to Peter Gabriel. I haven't _used_ it _as such_ in this fic, because I was determined I wasn't going to put any song quotes in, but if you've heard the song you'll know why this is here.


	35. EMMA'S END

EMMA'S ENDING

AN: As you may have noticed, the format's changed. Welcome to THE END. (don't worry, it's not over yet.)

The church was a small one, tucked in the tiny village near to Sanctuary. It was packed fuller than it had ever been before as the people started arriving for the service. Sandra was tired, perhaps more tired than she had ever been before. When her husband had died she had been able to distance herself from the proceedings in her mourning. Kelly had been old enough to watch out for her younger sister and brother, and her mother had still been around to organise everything that needed organising. She touched the tiny pendant that hung at her throat, a silver angel that her mother had given her when she had lost her husband. Its cool presence was reassuring. A sign of the things that would never change.

Adrian pulled her down into a seat beside him from where she had been standing guard at the door.

"Sand. Everything's going to be OK, OK? You're not doing her any justice by worrying. This is something we use as an ending, and a new beginning."

"I hate this Ade. I don't want to be here." Tears were already threatening and Sandra bit her lip to try and stem them. Spotting another car draw up into the car park, Sandra stood and swallowed back her emotions. She smiled as she saw who it was and was quickly enveloped in a hug.

"Hey Auntie Em." She greeted.

"Bad excuse for a reunion Sandra. You have to think up some better ones else we're never going to get to see you." The elderly woman's tone was jovial, but there was a sadness in her eyes that spoke of acknowledgement of the occasion.

"I'll get on it right away." Sandra agreed. Emily pulled her back into a hug.

"Chin-up. Come on, let's give her a good send off."

They stepped into the quiet peace that filled the church to the eaves and breathed in the scent of the wood polish and flowers. Adrian had taken his seat beside his father - who had refused the Mentoline as expected - and turned to offer her a soft smile. The church was filled with muffled murmurs and Sandra took her seat silently between Kelly and David. Kelly was looking tired, Sandra noted, but then she probably looked tired herself. The backlash of Megan's telepathic power had left her with dreams of people speaking to her in the middle of the night in voices she didn't recognise. Disturbing words had left her wishing she did not have to sleep. Last night had seemed like it would never end. But it had, and now it had left her here, with this new challenge to overcome.

Thinking about the people that she had seen arrive today - those that she had spoken to on the phone and those who had turned up from the hotel - she realised there were only three that she were completely sure were human. Sarah, Daniel and Emily. Though she knew Emily knew of her family's situation, Sarah and Daniel knew nothing if Jesse were to decide to come out with everything now. She shuddered and Kelly placed a gentle hand on her arm. Not knowing that she was part of her mother's concern.

They both looked up as the Vicar appeared.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Emma Anne DeLauro. Beloved Sister, Mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend to the assembled. She was everything to some and something to everyone."


	36. SHALIMAR'S END

SHALIMAR'S END

Jesse found Emma hidden in one of the nooks of Sanctuary, knees up to her chin and eyes as blank as he remembered Shalimar's once being, a long time ago.

Kneeling in front of her, Jesse lifted her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. She focused on his face for a moment and then pulled away. He sighed and took a seat beside her.

"She's fading Emma. She needs you to be there for her."

"It wasn't supposed to be like this Jesse. We were supposed to be _together_, a family. They can't leave me like this."

"Adam's working to save the baby, Emma. But he can't do it if Shalimar doesn't hold on. She needs you Emma, to help her hold on." Emma stood in one movement, stepping out of Jesse's reach and hovering there a moment.

"She was Shalimar's dream, Jesse. I don't know if I could do it without her. The baby's probably better off"

"No Emma!" The edge of sharpness, harshness in Jesse's voice made her stop. "You can't do that to her. She needs you. We can help you through what comes after that. We will, you won't have any choice in the matter. But for now all you need to do is go and sit by the side of the woman who loves you as she lives through the one thing she's been striving for her whole life. Don't make do this alone when you had the chance to be there."

Jesse's hand on her shoulder was a force, pushing her onwards. She hesitated in the doorway and Jesse allowed her the time to look on. Adam glanced up at her, acknowledging her with a nod before turning back to what he was doing. A screen had been erected around Shalimar's lower half, hiding her away as Adam worked. Shalimar was still, very still, her arms limp at her sides, her face relaxed. Emma couldn't hold back a whimper. She was too late. Shalimar was

But a flicker of eye-lids stopped the thought in its tracks. Their eyes met and Shalimar smiled. A hand uncurled from her side, beckoning Emma in. Even the simple effort of holding her arm out seemed too much, as Shalimar's hand trembled as Emma took it, taking it to her lips to kiss it softly.

"Hey." Came the soft murmur. "Where'd you go?"

"I got a little lost, that's all. I'm here now."

"Good." She paused for a moment, closing her eyes as if she would fall asleep. She opened her eyes again with visible effort and there was a tiredness hidden in their depths. "Oh Emma, I'm so sorry." A shudder ran through her and her eyes closed once more, her arm becoming a dead weight in her hand. Adam called for Jesse's help as he and Brennan began to hurry in their actions.

"Shalimar?" Emma asked, voice wavering. "Oh Shalimar, don't do this to me." She begged. "Please don't" Brown eyes reappeared.

"I'm sorry." The voice was almost inaudible now, a ragged whisper. "I'm just so tired." She seemed to come back into herself a little, looking up and around her self. A spark reappeared in her eyes, no longer dulled by tiredness. "That's not right." She whispered, stronger than before. "Adam, that's not right." She was struggling upright now, taking both Emma and Brennan to hold her down. "What isn't she crying?" She sobbed. Emma looked up to find Adam stood by the secondary scanner, the incubator positioned beneath the beam. He didn't seem to hear Shalimar, or if he did he was ignoring her. Emma's heart skipped a few beats. No not after all this

There was no noise from the heated box as the beam scanned.

"Adam?" Emma's voice was nothing but a whisper as she struggled to breathe in the consuming silence. Jesse and Brennan shared a glance. Even Shalimar had stilled, slumped back on the bed, her eyes following Emma's face for any sign any sign.

Adam bowed his head and - against all of their expectations - reached down into the insulated box and pulled out a bundle of blankets, bearing them with an air of ceremony back to the couple.

"She's fine Shalimar, better than I ever could have expected." He offered the bundle to her and Shalimar looked up at Emma, the joy rolling out and around her in waves which almost forced Emma to close her eyes with their brilliance.

"Help me? I'm not sure I'm strong enough to hold her?" She asked, almost ashamedly. Carefully Emma reached around Shalimar, putting her own arms under hers and together they looked down on the face of their child as Adam placed her safe in the cradle of her mother's' arms. And she smiled up at them, knowing nothing of the salty drops falling on her soft, soft skin.

"Shalimar?" Two pairs of tear-streaked eyes met Adam's smiling ones. "Do you see this?" He was pointing at a print-out and Shalimar spent a moment trying to focus on what was displayed there.

"No," She replied, giving up and laying back, "Explain it to me anyway." Adam frowned his concern before returning his attention to the piece of paper. "This gene sequence here I would have expected to be feral, it's not. It's been replaced by a psionic sequence. And here," His finger moved further down the page, "And here," He pointed out the third altered sequence. He paused. "She's going to be able to have children of her own, Shalimar. I didn't do this, it happened naturally through the combination of your genes. At some point in the future you may end up with grandchildren, maybe even great grandchildren." Shalimar sighed softly, smiling in indescribable joy. Adam looked up, frowning again. "Emma, if you wouldn't mind taking her?" Nodding, Emma gently kissed Shalimar on her forehead and lifted the tiny child from her arms. "I'm going to do two scans, the second will be a stabil"

"Ah, ah." She interrupted. "No more" She waved her hands in an all-encompassing gesture. "Fussing." She finally decided on.

"But"

"There are things that need saying right now. I'm not going to be able to say them trapped under a field, even if it does mean that time is short."

"But Shalimar"

"Adam. You see that over there? That's my child and the love of my life. I don't need any longer. I've done everything I ever set out to do. Thank you for making it possible." Adam opened his mouth as if to object again, but simply nodded instead.

"OK then." He bent and laid a kiss on her cheek. "Ok." He repeated, stepping away.

"Jesse, where did you go?" Shalimar called.

"I'm here." He took her hand and she smiled up at him unfocusedly.

"I needed to tell you something."

"What was that?" He asked when she didn't go on.

"I love her, and I'll love her forever. I haven't forgotten what you told me all that time ago. I love them both more than anything, more than anything, you understand? It was the right thing to do." Jesse couldn't reply, simply nodding as best he could through vision clouded by tears.

"I know Shal. I'm so sorry I didn't realise straight away. I'm so sorry"

"It's your turn now, to go out there and find your someone." She smiled absently. "Come here." She said, kissing each of his tear stained cheeks. "Now stop being such a cry-baby and send Brennan over here." Brennan appeared at her side a moment later. She beckoned him down, taking hold of his shirt collar as soon as he was near enough and pulling herself up to kiss his cheek. Holding him where he was she looked into his eyes unfocusedly. "You _will_ look after them, understand? You _will_ keep them safe."

"Always." He promised.

This settled, she turned back to Emma. Moving back to her side, Emma lay the wriggling child between them and leant over to kiss Shalimar gently. Shifting so that she could reach over, Shalimar traced the tiny features of the baby, smiling as her finger was grasped tightly.

"She's so beautiful." She murmured softly.

"Of course she is, she's ours." Emma smiled, pushing away her tears. She was gratified to see Shalimar smile in reply. "What's her name?" Emma asked, realising that as yet she had none.

"I'm too tired to think of names. You decide." Emma thought for a moment.

"Sandra." She said eventually. "You, young lady, should be called Sandra." The baby giggled and both parents smiled at the first sound their child had made.

"Sandra." Shalimar whispered. And in that breath she died.


	37. ADAM'S END

ADAM'S ENDING

AN: Don't ask me what's going on. Why would I know? Just in case (coz this is all a bit fast and muddled) the bits in italics are the past and the rest is Jesse doing his speech at Emma's funeral.

"A promise was made - a long, long time ago - that when there was only one of the five left, we would tell everyone else what went on in our lives. All of you here knew at least one of the five, some of you were lucky to know all of us, and saw us as we used to be - a team, together and whole. There are those of you here who know nothing of our story and who are only here in Emma's memory. You're in for a bit of a surprise." There was a murmur of humour from those who knew what was to come. "I may be putting some of the people here in danger by saying what I'm about to say, but if I don't saw them then the knowledge of what we did and what we did it for will be lost when I die. And we worked too hard to be forgotten now, just because we got too old to fight it anymore. I hope that I can trust all of you here with these secrets." His eyes met Sandra's, saw the pleading there, apologised without words, looked away. "It all started a very long time ago, when a company called Genomex began experimentation. Their story isn't ours, it is only our beginning. Our story started in the alleys of a city where a woman named Emma DeLauro was being chased by men who meant her harm."

And a silent audience listened as Jesse told their tale, a story of differences and preconceptions, of friendship and love. Of a family. There were those who smiled as their own stories were mentioned in the weavings of the lives of Mutant X, and those who had come to the funeral unknowing stirred in their seats as mutations and powers were mentioned. Some found themselves staring at the floor as they realised that they had become the people that this team, this family had fought against, the people who had broken them apart. Faces stared up in awe, realising the part that their family had played in the makings of this world, so different to their own and Sandra's head stayed bowed, knowing now that there was no longer anything she could do to protect her family from the truth.

"Shalimar and Emma were meant for each other from the start. When Shalimar died, Emma found it terribly hard to continue on alone. She cared for Sandra as best she could, but sometimes her own emotions would be so powerful that they would overwhelm her. She was continually up and down, all emotions experienced at their most powerful. And then she would have times when she seemed to go completely blank, like she was shell-shocked. She would just sit there, completely unaware of anything happening around her. We ended up with a routine of checking up on the two of them every few hours and we would never leave them alone. As much as possible we suppressed our own emotions to try and allow Emma some relief. We took them to places where we knew there would be large groups of emotionally happy people in an attempt to try and lift Emma, if only for a while. There was one outing I always remember because it seemed to be a turning point for Emma. We went out for a day to the beach when Sandra was about five months old. Emma was having a blank day. You could look into her eyes and see the surface of the sea there. You knew that there were things going on under the surface, but you weren't willing to stick you're neck out to find out what, just in case it got bitten off. We were driving home along the coastal road and we spotted a tiny cove from the road. We drove as close as we could to this cove and then we abandoned the car and walked down onto this tiny beach surrounded by caves and rock-pools. It was still warm so we decided to put the blanket out and watch the sun go down. Brennan dashed off to get some food and I started wandering round the caves."

__

Emma sat on the beach, Sandra sleeping silently in her arms. The tide was rising and tears were pressing at her eyes in sympathy. She shouldn't have been cold - she wore a thick jumper despite the heat of the sun, low in the sky - but she felt chilled. The sun was diving for the skyline, the sea changing colour and reflecting the strong beams so that the waves became speckled shadows on its yellow surface. A deep shudder ran through her and Sandra stirred, opening baby blue eyes and yawning as if she would swallow the world. Feeling her start to wriggle, Emma placed her down on the blanket by the sand, keeping one hand on her waist so that she couldn't wander off. It would be wrong to say she heard footsteps in the sand behind her - there were no footsteps. And her empathic power sensed nothing she could pinpoint. There was no shadow or scent in the air. But she knew, when Shalimar sat down on the blanket beside her, that she had been watching her from the top of the sand dune and had only just made the decision to join her down by the water's edge.

Emma was surprised to find that she couldn't keep hold of the anger that had first filled her. She no longer wanted to shout and scream at the woman beside her for abandoning her when she was most needed. She damned her fickle emotions and looked up, feeling her breath catch a little as she met Shalimar's eyes. Yes, she had missed her, missed her so very much. The blond smiled softly in reply and turned her attention to the child who sat now in the sand, already mostly covered. Laughing she brushed sand from her features, so very similar to those she knew so well. The child looked up at the new person, looking to her mother to reassurance. The sadness in deep brown eyes was enough to make Emma see. She was not the one who could be angry at her lot. Shalimar was missing out on something much larger.

Tentatively, then more confident when the newcomer made no movement, Sandra very carefully handed Shalimar a chubby fistful of sand. A peace offering. Smiling as tears trailed her face, Shalimar took Sandra's handful of sand and started a pile. Joining in, Emma poured two hands full on top, laughing as Sandra joined in, throwing the sand inaccurately at the pile. When it was high enough Shalimar lifted her gently and stood her atop of the tower they had made.

They sat for a time there, building and destroying towers and castles. Laughing and talking and playing. As the sun hit the horizon they all stopped to watch the explosions of passion - reds and oranges and pinks that threw them selves out across the skies - sitting close in each other's embraces. When Sandra and Emma gave a simultaneous yawn Shalimar laughed and laid down beside them on the blanket, Sandra curled between them. Emma fought for wakefulness as she felt Sandra relax into gentle sleep, brushing sand from her hair and face. Reaching up Shalimar displaced some sand from Emma's hair and she couldn't help but laugh as she saw how covered they both were. The sadness returned to Shalimar's eyes as she traced Emma's features under the guise of removing sand. Emma fell asleep with Shalimar's soft kiss, a breath on her skin.

"I must have spent longer than I remember in those caves because I had missed the sundown by the time I got back on to the beach and Emma was asleep on the blanket with Sandra. Brennan came back, astonished about how long it had taken him to get food and we left Emma sleeping, knowing that she hadn't had much rest and she probably needed it. When she woke up that evening she was like the Emma we remembered, full of bubbly energy and love. And save for one or two days when she found it harder and she may have wavered a little, Emma never went back."

"We'd been fighting for a long time before the war became official. We lived to fight those who wished to eradicate us from the face of the earth, and, though it was never pleasurable we fought against those of our own who couldn't just live in the world like everyone else, who needed to rule it. We fought to make sure no new mutants did more harm to our cause than good in trying to help us. We fought to remain unnoticed and we fought to live our own lives in amongst that mess. Four years after Shalimar's death I met Hazel and though I felt so terribly guilty about falling in love when my best friend was obviously still mourning her partner, I couldn't help but fall for her. A year later we were married and Adrian appeared. I was following Shalimar's instructions to make a family of my own and Emma couldn't have been happier for us. Sandra reached five and Adam took on her tutoring our family was closer than we had been for a long time. Brennan continued going from girl to girl as was his style - we sometimes joked he was like Adam in that sense, an old flame in every corner. We never doubted that he would be the one to take on and lead Mutant X when Adam retired - already he was beginning to hand over responsibility, so slowly Brennan wasn't even noticing.

"Sandra was ten when war broke out. With our forces reduced after Shalimar's loss we had begun to rely on the new mutants who volunteered their services to Mutant X - these external operatives working out of various safe houses and hidden locations"

__

"Adam." Jesse shouted, running into Sanctuary, face pale. "It's been made official. The bill has been passed. They're going to start killing us!" Adam stood silent in front of the computer screen, fixed on what was going on there.

"They already have."

"So many people were killed in the first attacks. Hundreds were innocent, completely human. Every tiny eccentricity, fake psychics, people who claimed they could see ghosts, top athletes, the sick, the deformed all over the world people were dying - killed by all the rest. They made the ruling broad and easily interpreted. If you see a mutant, kill it, or contact someone to kill them for you. The world was in uproar."

__

The computer screen showed a scene from the nearby city. In the streets there were riots, covering the town. Within the riots, people he knew, recognised as new mutants. Friends. Riot police were appearing, but Jesse knew they wouldn't be able to help their cause. After all, they were licensed to kill new mutants now.

"Back then there wouldn't even be an inquiry if an accused new mutant was killed, or a blood test. If you saw something strange happening then it was undoubtedly a new mutant doing it. You were fully within your rights to kill who ever you thought was responsible."

__

"Jesse, start contacting everyone. I want every new mutant we have contacts for in the safehouses until we know what's going on. Send out the alert."

"Where are you going?" He asked as Adam grabbed his coat.

"I'm taking the helix to see if I can save any of those people." He gestured at the computer, where the report was still playing.

"Take Emma and Brennan? Please Adam, you can't do this alone."

"OK." He consented.

The streets were swarming. The team were grabbing everyone they recognised as new mutant and pointing them either to the helix or to the nearest safe house. Pushing their way into a crowd they fought off the people that surrounded a still form and Brennan lifted the injured new mutant and they took him back to the helix. Leaving him with the others who already waited there they headed back out. They had five people in the helix, with only room for one more they searched. Pointing out a crowd of people, Emma lead the others over. Pushing them out of the way to much complaining, Brennan bodily lifted one of the attackers off the still form that was on the floor. Two fingers to the side of the neck. Brennan stepped away.

"She's dead." He told Adam. Together they looked down on the girl. She could only have been eighteen. She was not new mutant, or at least not that Adam recognised. An innocent.

Another fight was breaking out, Megan - in her twenties now - was dragged out into the courtyard of the shopping centre. A gun held to her forehead. The man was shouting to the crowd. He had caught one. Watch him kill it.

Suddenly he fell to the floor, clutching at his head in pain. Megan ran, the thought she had planted being enough to allow her escape. Spotting Adam and the others she ran for them. Brennan charged up as he saw the man regain his feet and pick the gun back up. But there were people everywhere. Adam jumped forward and grabbed hold of Megan as she ran, pushing her around the corner just as a gunshot rang out and falling, unbalanced, after her. Emma and Brennan followed them, Brennan discharging into the crowd to discourage pursuit. Emma almost fell over Adam as she backed down the alley that would lead to the helix, not expecting to find him on the floor. Megan's face was pale, both hands pressed onto Adam's chest. Emma knelt.

"Oh no"


	38. BRENNAN'S END

BRENNAN'S ENDING

AN: Do you know how hard it is to write something like this to an accompaniment of the lion king soundtrack? All of my flat mates are very drunk I apologise if this isn't up to scratch.

Megan was sobbing softly into the arms of one of the other new mutants that they were transporting as they hurried back to Sanctuary. They were all looking pretty shell-shocked, but then their world had just been torn apart. The injured mutant, revealed to be a fire elemental who had been seen lighting a cigarette with his power, was conscious and seemed to be fairly sound though a little bruised. Emma was trying desperately to convince herself that Adam's wound wasn't as bad as it seemed. The bleeding was even slowing, she noticed, praying that that wasn't simply because it wasn't being pumped as fast. The medical equipment in the helix was limited at best.

There was a bang and a shudder throughout the helix, causing all of the occupants to cry out. Brennan fought to right the craft as it bucked away from the impact.

"What was that?" Emma shouted forward.

"I'm a little busy right now, Emma. I think we're being shot at. The cloak is down, they can see us. And we're heavy at the moment. I'm just going to keep going and try and stay in the air."

The clouds were massing as they limped towards Sanctuary. There had been three more explosions around the helix as it had run, though no more had hit directly like the first. The landing was less than elegant - dropping onto the ground on top of Sanctuary as the engines finally failed. As Brennan lifted Adam from the floor of the helix the first drops of rain were beginning to fall. Brennan hurried with Adam inside and Emma led the new mutants into the garage, grabbing one of the car keys. She turned and handed them to Megan, her face scrubbed free of tears.

"Get everyone out of here. There's directions to one of the safe houses programmed into the GPS." Megan stopped Emma from turning and going with a hand on her shoulder.

"We're willing to fight. We want to fight. We don't want things to be like this." Emma glanced down the corridor where Brennan had taken Adam.

"No. No more fighting. Things are never going to go back to the way they were. For now we just have to hide and hope things will improve eventually. Go. We'll contact you when we can. Someone will have seen the helix go down, we'll have company before long." With a nod, Megan took the keys and headed back to the group. Sighing, Emma span on her heel and ran for the medical lab.

"Jesse." She spoke into her comm. link. "The helix needs you attention. Hazel can you get the kids together and pack up a few essentials, we're evacuating. Brennan," She was speaking now to Brennan who stood in the medical lab that she had reached. "Can you do a security scan and start locking down Sanctuary. I have a feeling we might have company before long." And Emma moved to take Brennan's place at Adam's side, checking quickly over the scans that Brennan had done. She set up a drip and blood transfusion as quickly as she could. Adam had trained her to use all of the medical equipment in Sanctuary, in case something like this happened. She knew exactly what to do. She also knew that try as she might there was very little she could do for Adam but wait.

She listened, in the stillness punctuated only by Adam's shallowing breaths, as the car left the garage and Brennan woke the children. Sandra's bare feet slapped at the wooden floors as she dashed out of her room, excited by the late hour, skidding to a stop as Brennan called her sharply. Emma frowned a little at Brennan, though she knew he meant no harm. It wasn't Sandra's fault that all of these things were going wrong. Adrian cried a little at being woken, and Emma heard Hazel's soft reassurances. Brennan walked by the door with Adrian in his arms, almost asleep again against his shoulder and Sandra close behind, spotting her mother in the medilab and waving excitedly.

"Jesse says he can fix the helix," Brennan explained, handing Adrian back to his mother. "We're going to get everything in that we can so we're ready to go when it's done." Emma nodded her consent. He glanced at Adam and the surety in his eyes faltered a little. "Is he" Emma shook her head short and sharp.

"I'll join you as soon as" She couldn't finish her sentence. "As soon as it's over." She glanced at the kids. "You be good, Sandra, and sit in the Double Helix quietly while Uncle Jesse fixes it." She nodded again with a grin, still not knowing, not understanding what was going on. Brennan and Hazel led them away. Emma's attention was drawn as the steady beat faltered.

Brennan ran to the helix in the light rain. Leaving Hazel and the children with Jesse in the helix he headed back into Sanctuary to run the last security checks and to begin the lockdowns. He was almost finished when the blips began to show up on his scans. He locked down all but the main exit onto the surface and called through to Emma in the medical lab. When there was no response he ran for the helix, shutting the only exterior door. It was mere moments before he was back, having found that Emma wasn't with the others in the helix. He checked again. The blips were getting closer, they were under attack.

With no time to loose he shouted through to Emma and ran back for the main entrance. At least he could be sure that the others were safe, on their way to the safe house to meet up with them. Adam's loss still didn't seem to have sunk in somehow. There wasn't time to mourn yet. For now his job was with the living - keeping them that way. When they had time they would spend time sorrowing for the father they had just lost.

There were six of them - all in police uniforms - and all of them had guns, out and ready. He ducked behind the doorframe as one of them let off an over eager shot. He watched the Helix rise unsteadily into the air and saw three of the men turn and aim. He felt panic rise in his throat at the thought that these men might pluck the people he considered a family out of the air and send them plummeting to the ground. The helix was in no state to take such a landing and offer any kind of protection. From the look of it, Jesse was holding it together with sheer will power.

With a roar of anger Brennan threw all that he could at the six men. Anger and pain and worry seemed to rise within him and channel its self through his hands. When he managed to pull himself back under control four men lay unmoving on the ground. The other two had taken cover and, seeing their chance, leapt up shooting as Brennan faltered. He looked down as two patterns of red blossomed on his chest, looking back up at the men in shock for a moment before keeling over. As darkness gathered he watched the helix rise to freedom and smiled.

__

"I told you Shalimar. I told you I'd keep them safe."

Emma saw him fall as she skidded into the main hall at his call. She fell to her knees as she felt the wave of darkness overcome her, flooding from her, rejoicing in the release. It threw the men back wards as it hit them and those still able ran and didn't stop. Emma fell to her knees at Brennan's side, cradling his head in her lap as she searched for a pulse. Tears streaked her face and those emotions that she had buried so deep emerged once again with a vengeance, having been seething and gathering under the surface. A hand on her shoulder made her start, but she didn't look up. She didn't need to.

"Why are you here?" It was a moan, she wanted to be alone. She yearned to be alone.

"I came for Adam." Came the simple reply as Shalimar took a seat beside her.

"He need a chauffeur?" An embittered response.

"Just a helping hand. He didn't want to leave you, not right now. It's nice to have someone there when you get to the other side." She sighed. "I didn't want to leave you, you know. When it was time. My mother was here waiting for me, though not the person I was expecting. She explained things." Shalimar sighed again, tiredly, sadly, when Emma made no response. "You have to go Emma. You have to run. There's still a car in the garage. You can get out before anyone else turns up."

"But Brennan I have to help" Shalimar pointed silently to the corner across from where they were sitting. Brennan stood there, smiling sadly. Emma looked back down at the form in her arms.

"Sandra still needs you Emma. She's not old enough to go on without you. Things could have been so much different for me if I'd still had my family. For you too, I think." Emma thought of foster families and her parents proper. Emma thought of Sandra. Emma thought of the tiny angel pendant in her pocket, Shalimar's birthday present.

Lying Brennan's still form carefully on the ground she shut down the main door, locking it up tight, and headed for the garage.


	39. JESSE'S END

JESSE'S ENDING

Liz's mind was buzzing with thoughts as she sat in a hidden corner of one of Sanctuary's corridors. Something she had learned very young was that if you ever wanted to get lost, Sanctuary was the best place to do it. Some of the corridors seemed to go on for miles.

She had so many things that she needed to think about, yet no thought seemed to form fully before she came back to the one that seemed to ring in her ears. Her mother was new mutant. Her grandmother and grandfather and uncle and aunt her whole family was new mutant. SHE was new mutant. There were a few billion people out there in the world who would kill her without thinking. How was she ever going to walk out of the door again? How was she ever going to look Sarah in the eye? Would Sarah turn her in? Jesse had just told her the location of a whole family of new mutants, were they going to be in danger now? Surely he couldn't vouch for every single person in that hall.

The man in question appeared at the end of the corridor and stood there for a moment, observing. After a moment he wandered the distance that separated them, in no hurry. He took a seat beside her with a sigh.

"I'm sorry." He offered eventually. Liz searched herself for any kind of anger or resentment. All she found was regret that she hadn't known earlier.

"Why didn't Mum tell us?" She asked.

"She was scared. She didn't want you to be in danger. She wanted you to be able to meet someone like Sarah without having to hide any part of yourself. She's spent her whole adult life having to hide that from her husband and everyone who meant anything to her."

"Is that why I know when she's crying, and how I can jump so high and run like I do?"

"Yes. And it's why David's as quiet as he is. He feels a lot more of what's going on around him than most people, he just hasn't worked out how to put it into words yet."

"Tell me about Shalimar. I don't know anything about him and Mum won't talk about him. You hardly said anything about him"

"Him" Jesse smiled to himself. "No, Sandra never had a father. She was almost unique in that way." Liz looked up at him, confused.

"But how?"

"Genetic manipulation. She had two mothers and a god father who knew what he was doing with their genes. Shalimar was the same, though we didn't know until after she had died. She knew though. We broke into Adam's lab one night and had a look at our files. I always wondered why she was so shocked by what she read. Do you know that if Adam hadn't have interfered I would have been born with MS? How scary is that? He did something for all of us, even if some of us didn't thank him for it afterwards."

"The red-head." Liz mused. "From the photos in that room. Sarah was right. There were so many photos of them together. That was Shalimar." Jesse smiled.

"Who's 'them'?"

"Sarah found a photo that she was sure was Gramma, because of how much she looked like Mum and me. But in most of the photos she was with a redhead."

"She was nearly right. The blond woman was your grandmother, but not the one you knew. That was Shalimar. Emma was the redhead. I always thought that Kelly looked so much like her when she was younger." Jesse stood slowly. "We have to get back to the others. Sarah wants to talk to you. She has something she really wanted to tell you, but she couldn't find you. You should start to practice standing your ground. You know you're partly feral now, you have to show your pride."

"What if someone finds out, what if someone wants to kill me?"

"Everyone wants to kill you kid, it's the way of the world. But you're stronger and faster and more intelligent than a very large proportion of them. You were born with those skills. Your families gift to you." Liz took his hand and stood, pausing and wavering as Jesse moved away. She shut her eyes tightly, knowing that she wouldn't like what she saw when she opened them again. A faint memory of playing a game of peekaboo with her father came to mind. It hadn't seemed wrong at the time, until he had left and she realised that he had walked through the door without opening it.

"Liz?" Jesse asked tentatively. "Liz are you OK?" She opened her eyes to look at him, focusing only on his face and trying to ignore the others that had appeared around her.

"I'm" A hand on her should drew her attention away. She glanced to one side to find her Gramma stood there, aged and wrinkled hand on her shoulder. Even as she watched, the old bent figure she knew as her Grandmother seemed to change, slipping backwards in time and becoming the youth she had seen in so many of Jesse's photos. She suddenly seemed a lot taller and Liz reached out and ran a hand through her hair as it fell about her shoulders, the colour blood-red.

Emma simply smiled and turned to the others. There were two men with matching black scruffy hair stood up against one wall. One seemed older than the other, though only in his eyes. In appearance alone they could have been the same age. In the middle of the corridor Shalimar stood with Amy and Rachel at her shoulders. As Adam they looked young and the softest of smiles hovered over their lips as they watched their daughter. Together they laid a hand each on Shalimar's shoulder and she turned to them both in turn, offering a smile of thanks. Then the two turned together and, hand in hand, they walked off into nothingness, no fault in either or their strides. Caught up in watching the two women leave Liz didn't see Emma rush from her side and fly into Shalimar's arms. Shalimar took her up in her arms, spinning them both around. When they stopped there were tears in both of their eyes. Brennan and Adam stepped away from their wall and moved to embrace the pair. As one the team that used to be looked up at Jesse who smiled sadly at Liz.

"They're here aren't they. You can see them." She could only nod. "Tell them I'm ready to come and join them." Liz looked up at him sharply, well aware of what he was asking. She looked out at the figures who nearly filled the narrow corridor without seeming to take up any room. They looked back at her and nodded.

"They heard." She whispered. Moving as one they walked towards Jesse and one by one they took him in a tight embrace. Then they all disappeared into the shadows, taking him with them, and Jesse fell. Liz caught him before he reached the ground and guided him that last little bit of the way.

Jesse lay still.

__

For the want of the child the woman was lost

For the want of the woman the team was lost

And so it was the war was lost

And all for the want of the child

~ based on a 13th century English poem - The Horse Shoe Nail~

(NOT written by Benjamin Franklin, against common belief)


	40. THE END

THE END?

__

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it didn't end with a phone call. Maybe it ended with the death of the last of the mutant's heroes. Or maybe just maybe it never really ends at all

Liz couldn't say how much time passed before David appeared with everyone else in tow. She looked up at them with tear-stained face. Adrian was at Jesse's side, desperately seeking a pulse while Tammy sobbed quietly into Sandra's shoulder. David, Shazné's hand tight in his, reached out with his free hand and pulled Liz away. He led them both as far as the main hall before stopping and taking a seat on the dojo. Shazné clambered up next to him and lay at the back of the platform, watching the water run beneath her with curiosity. Liz moved up beside her and lay down on her stomach with her chin resting on her hands.

She heard Sarah step out of one of the corridors into the hall and wondered if someone else would have heard her too, of it that was another part of her mutation. Sarah called her name and she turned grudgingly, sitting up but not moving so Sarah had to come to her.

"Sandra told me about Jesse." She said, putting an arm around Liz's shoulder. "I'm sorry." Liz pulled away. "What's up?" She asked, confused.

"You've just found out I'm a freak, don't you want to run away or phone the police or something?"

"Are you going to hurt me, freak?" She asked, jokingly.

"No. It's not like I'm any different than I was before." Liz said, looking away.

"Then I don't see why I should bother. Besides, I kinda like you, I'd rather you didn't get yourself killed." Sarah pulled Liz's chin around so that their eyes met. "It doesn't change anything." She said, serious.

"Are you sure?" Liz whispered. Sarah simply rolled her eyes and kissed her. David made a face at Shazné and, not wanting to be left out the young girl kissed him. The girls laughed as David scrubbed at his cheek. Liz sighed.

"What do you think Daniel will do? He's been killing people like us." David looked up.

"He loves Kelly and Shazné very much." He said. "He won't hurt them."

Liz was going to reply when she realised how empty the hotel was at dinnertime, Liz looked up and around, noting that there was almost absolute silence except for their own voices.

"There's something wrong." She said, standing. She glanced across at David and saw him frown. The others appeared in one of the doorways and Liz started to make her way across to them. A voice, sudden and loud in her ears, shouted "Freeze."

Adrian's shackled arm rested around his sister's waist, Kelly's head was buried in Daniel's shoulder as he held Shazné, rocking her gently as she sobbed at the rough handling. David held Sandra's hand and Sarah and Liz shared another pair of seats. The holding van rattled over the narrow road out of Sanctuary. They were in an isolated box trailing the vehicle, handcuffed, the box insulated and earthed, waterproof and fireproof. The doors were locked from the driver's seat. They were on their way to the station where they would join the rest of the hotel guests in being bloodtested and scanned and all of them found to be mutant would be killed almost immediately in whatever way was deemed most suitable.

"We can't just sit here. We have to do something." Daniel stated.

"What can we do?" Adrian asked. "It's not like they're just going to let us run away."

"But you guys can do things. Can't you?"

"'Things?'" Tammy repeated sarcastically. "What, like flying and seeing through solid walls with our x-ray vision?"

"Tammy. He's trying to help." Sandra reprimanded. "Ade, can you break the chains?" She asked.

"Yes, but Sand"

"No Ade." She interrupted. "It's time we started fighting back."

"What about the door. I'm not going to be able to break that."

"We'll help you."

"We?"

"There are two ferals in this car, Ade. Shazné will have to wait until she's a little older before she can help out." Sandra smiled softly at Kelly's grin.

"Not everyone here has feral speed, Sandra. We're not all going to be able to outrun these people."

"I'm assuming you'll be able to provide some protection?"

"Not enough for seven of you." Sandra thought for a moment, looking at the collected people as the van rattled along. Her gaze settled on David.

"Hey Bill. Pull over, I need to take a piss." Bill looked over at his partner, jumpy at the cargo he was transporting.

"You think that's a good idea, Sam?"

"Do I heck. But I need a piss."

"Yeah, me too. I just didn't want to"

"For christ's sake man, pull over!" Bill pulled over. Checking that all of the doors were locked the two men jumped out of the car and headed into the forest on the roadside to find appropriate trees. If either of them had been looking they would have been very worried to see Tammy stick her head out of their mutant-proof box and jump into the cab. Unlocking the doors to the box quickly she looked in the mirror and watched all of the others clamber out and run into the woods on the other side of the road - Sandra carrying David, the effort of using skills he had never had a chance to practice proving too much for him. Shutting the box again Tammy waited. Checking the tree line she was happy to note that she couldn't see any of the others, though she knew they hadn't gone far. Looking down she realised the flaw in their plan. The men had taken the keys with them. Sticking her head out of the window she looked out into the woods.

"Help! No keys!" She called under her breath, hoping the men couldn't hear her. A figure appeared from the trees and jumped into the cab beside her. Sarah smiled and then gestured that they should swap seats. Surrendering the driving seat quickly Tammy watched as Sarah leant down and pulled some wires out of the steering column. Seeing one of the men emerging from the woods Tammy gestured for her to hurry. Seconds later the engine started and they pulled away. Bill stood shouting after the car as it disappeared, and then at Sam when he emerged. The two police men commandeered a passing car, calling for backup as they went. Careful to check that they had gone the others emerged from the woods on the other side of the road and began the walk back to Sanctuary.

Sanctuary seemed deserted as they arrived back in the driveway. A single police car suggested otherwise.

As they made their way into the entrance of Sanctuary two shots ran out, both going wide, but enough to warn them. They dived back under cover. Daniel began edging his way back to the edge of the artificial hillock they had taken cover behind.

"What are you doing?" Kelly asked. He showed her the handgun in his hands.

"I took it out of the back of the cab, there was a panic kit there." He explained. Two more shots rang out and Daniel lifted the gun two handed to aim. Kelly grabbed Daniel's hand and forced it downwards.

"We don't kill them." She hissed.

"Why not. They're trying to kill us."

"Because we're the good guys. We're trying to prove to them that we can live alongside them. That means not killing them." Sandra looked up at her daughter, proud of the comment. "I've always wanted to be on this side. I hated just watching." She grinned.

"That'll change." Sandra murmured to herself.

"OK, so no killing shots. How are we supposed to get past them? And what exactly were we planning on doing when we get inside?" Daniel asked. Sandra looked to Adrian.

"Is the helix still working?" He looked uncertain.

"She was in a bit of a state last time I looked. I haven't had time to work on her. She should be air-worthy."

"The aeroplane it was _real_!?" Liz exclaimed. Adrian simply smiled.

"OK, here's what we're going to do. Ade, you're going for the helix. Liz, you go with him. Kelly, stay with the kids. Daniel, how do you feel about being a diversion?"

Liz stood and gaped at the craft in its hanger. Adrian was already inside and starting it up. It didn't look in the best of conditions, occasionally spouting stream as it went through the start-up process. Adrian looked out of the hatch.

"You coming in?" He asked.

Grimacing and silently apologising as she did so, Sandra thumped the two men heavily across the back of the neck as they tried to target Daniel who was bobbing up and down with the gun in his hands. They fell solidly to the ground and Sandra looked up as there was a whirring in the air. The helix descended ponderously and landed on the flat top of the hill. A hatch appeared in the back and Liz looked out.

"We going to rescue some people then, or what?" She called. They were piling into the craft when there was the noise of a vehicle on the road. Taking cover they were all relieved when Sarah and Tammy appeared from the cab of the vehicle.

"You weren't planning on leaving us out of the fun were you?" Sarah laughed.

As one, the new team of mutant's heroes turned and stepped into the helix. Ready to begin their reign and to regain freedom for mutant-kind.

The beginning again


	41. THE BEGINNING

THE BEGINNING

She'd been looking at the picture for too long, her mind hinted, but her body paid no heed, fixed as it was and taking in every aspect of the woman that looked out of the photograph at her.

Feral reflexes let her catch the hand that Jesse was about to wave in front of her face.

"Are you OK?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course." And she stepped away from the console that Adam had been briefing them from, heading for her room.

"Shal, where are you going? We have to go and find this woman." She paused and looked back at him.

"I'm getting a coat, it's cold out."

Twenty minutes later Shalimar emerged from her room in a new outfit, complete with a long coat draped across her arm.

"What took you? This woman could be in danger!" Jesse exclaimed.

"What are we standing around for then!? Let's go!" Sighing, Jesse followed the feral out to the helix where Adam was preparing for the mission.

"Jesse I want you down here" He pointed out a mark on the small street map. "You're going to be the first line of defence. There are cars around so be careful, remember you can't phase her if the car's coming at you. Shalimar you're"

"Hitting the skyline." She grinned. He paused.

"You see a way up?" He asked. She pointed out a line of short balconies up the side of the building above where they were planning the ambush. "If you think you can make that then fine. Time your jump down carefully, I don't want any injuries today. Pictures of the agents as usual for the database. Let's make this clean, in and out."

Shalimar watched as the blacked-out jeep hared around the corner, close on the heels of the woman whose picture she had found so intriguing. She hesitated in the street and Shalimar held her breath, praying that Jesse would be fast enough. At the last possible moment Jesse appeared, spinning the girl away from him and phasing just in time for the vehicle to pass right through him. Shalimar's stomach clenched in sympathy - she would never get used to seeing him doing that. Seeing the SUV skid to a stop right beneath where she stood Shalimar took the opportunity for a softer landing than the asphalt. The extension and control of the fall and landing were almost second nature to her, with all of the practising that Adam had made her do before he would let her use her ability in a fight. The SUV's roof caved a little under her feet, softening the collision a little and two agents jumped out of the vehicle, one floored quickly, the other climbing up on to the roof with her.

It didn't take much to send the second guy flying and Shalimar glanced over as Jesse threw himself into the air to kick a flying trash can. She grinned as she recognised the move that she had taught him and then frowned as she realised he had the woman's complete attention. He glanced at her and smirked - he knew! He knew how much this was irking her. With a feral growl she span off the roof of the car and into a confrontation with the first agent who had - against all common sense - got himself back off the floor and tried attacking her again. A couple of well-placed kicks dissuaded him from trying the same thing again.

She saw Adam appear from the side alley where the Double Helix would be concealed and turned to join him as he headed towards the other two, Jesse seeming to field the new woman in towards them, she looking ready to run at the slightest thing.

'Now,' Shalimar thought to herself, 'comes the mysterious but world changing introduction that Adam's so fond of.'

"No need to run any more Emma, you're among friends." Shalimar had to restrain a smile.

"How do you know my name, wait, what's going on?" She looked back at Jesse and he smiled and nodded, reassuring. Shalimar smirked at him. He stuck his tongue out at her behind Emma's back.

"Your questions will be answered later." Adam glanced back at her and Shalimar realised he expected to tell him what was going on. With the slightest thought she adjusted her hearing and located the backup car, only three blocks down. She gave Adam a nod. "Right now, it's time to go." Adam turned and took her hand, leading her back down the alley towards the Helix. Stepping up beside Jesse Shalimar muttered, "Show off."

"This girl's really got to you, hasn't she. You haven't even met her properly yet. She had you when you saw her picture." Shalimar looked up as Jesse appeared in the doorway. He changed his T-shirt, she noted.

"No!"

"It doesn't matter, if she has. I don't mind."

"Maybe, just a little." Shalimar held her thumb and forefinger up to demonstrate the 'little', grinning.

"Woo! And the truth appears." Jesse hooted.

"Shut up." She cuffed his shoulder, unable to contain her own laughter.

"She's an empath, you know. She's going to know about this." The laughter faded as she paled.

"Oh god. I hadn't even thought"

Emma looked down at the cards as they were dropped on the table in front of her. Her new identity. She glanced up at the feral, wondering at the strange muddle of emotions that she had felt from the woman as soon as she had felt safe enough to open herself a little to these people. From the outside the blond emanated a lack of care for the situation, but the slightest glance over the top of the mental barriers she lived within showed Emma a completely different story. With all of her emotions right up there on the surface the feral was a exotic mixture of everything from animalistic curiosity, affection and care to the slightest tints of fear and anger, some that seemed completely foreign to her. She watched her leave, trying to think over what had happened to her over the last couple of days and put her thoughts into some kind of order. For some reason her thoughts kept straying away from the past and back to the blond that had just left. Her attention was drawn back to the one emotion she had been trying to ignore in the feral that had flared every time she had looked at her. Attraction.

Curious, Emma decided to see what would happen next.


	42. Author's Note

I am _so_ **unbelievably** sorry.

I missed a post

If you've got here without reading **'Shalimar's End'** please go back and read it. I have NO idea how I managed to miss posting that

Stupid stupid girl

Plz review.

Thanks!

Ferae


End file.
